„Variation on a theme by Rumi“
Start with patience—with longing.
O longing—thorny vine growing
from the dirt of my mind—I begin again
in a pin prick, a trickle tightly running
down your body’s slender pockets, each
one enough for my mouth, my fingertips
to catch on, to wait patiently within.
O to love by longing—patiently—forming
stars in the roof of my mouth, kissing
starry cinders into a wine we devour
from cupped hands—beloved, be lunatic
be savage, be a wink & a grin sent across
an ocean, be thirst, the hands holding
my face & laughing—start with patience
believe me, O longing, believe in me
the way starving forget-me-nots believe
in sun & water & be the question beloved
be question & the patience of searching,
never finding answers—only longing after them.
BIO: Roberto Carlos Garcia
Roberto Carlos Garcia is a native New Yorker, a poet, storyteller and essayist. He is founder of the cooperative press Get Fresh Books Publishing, A Nonprofit Corp. In December, 2020, Garcia’s third book of poetry, Elegies, was released by FlowerSongPress. His poems have been widely published in POETRY Magazine, The BreakBeat Poets Vol 4: LatiNEXT, Bettering American Poetry Vol. 3, The Root, Those People, Rigorous, Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, The Acentos Review, Lunch Ticket, and many others.