I woke with the dawn,
the taste of some dream
still thick on my morning tongue.
⠀
It was about you.
It was about the scalpel of Loss
and the bandage of Time,
but neither one felt right.
⠀
I was alone then, but the dream
was not about loneliness.
⠀
I tried to wrap my calloused hands
around Regret, and came away bleeding.
Every drop became a seed,
and every one grew into a lemon tree.
⠀
I already had more salt and sorrow
in my belly than the Dead Sea,
but in the dream that didn’t bother me.
⠀
I was more disturbed by how vibrant green
and alive the waxy leaves seemed to be,
how sunshine yellow the rinds glistened
like promises, like tomorrows.
Ariel K. Moniz (she/her) is a queer Black poetess and Hawaii local currently living abroad. Her poems have found homes with Blood Bath Literary Zine, Royal Rose Magazine, Black Cat Magazine, Nightingale & Sparrow, and Sunday Mornings at the River Press, among others. She is the winner of the 2016 Droste Poetry Award and a Best of the Net nominee. You can find her on her website at kissoftheseventhstar.home.