PERIWINKLE

The tulip has died but the stem keeps on living

Or at least, is still green
A deeper celery
Like my image of a submarine

Everything has its corresponding color
My teeth, French vanilla
My gums, strawberry ice cream

My hands, meanwhile, belong to the fuchsia family
And a bar of soap becoming nothing
Like the inside of a fridge

In real life, the celery just sits there in a cup of water––

My mom had sent me an article
About storing vegetables like this

I send my mom a thumbs up
I send my mom a kiss

And the trees send the wind

The fridge light turns on
Both here and in New Jersey

Her favorite color
Being periwinkle

My favorite color
Being this

GET BACK ON THE HORSE 

The feeling came toward me 
It was like trying to pull my head 
Through an already zipped sweatshirt 
Voilà!
My own personal darkness 
And touching it 
Like a crouton 
At the bottom of the sea

Luciana Arbus-Scandiffio was recently a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University. Luci has two lesbian moms, and is originally from New Jersey.