could i be jealous of all the places you've ever been
the ground there
has been touched by the bottoms of your feet and
has resonated through your soles and through you
the grasses had the pleasure of being crushed by you
the wind got to slip wild through your clothes as you tore it straight down through the middle
could i be jealous of all the places you've ever wanted to go
because you seem so far away
when you think of them
from eyes to freckles
when you look at windows
when you're that sure nobody's watching you
or what your ice colored eyes do
could i want very secretly
to be the thing you think of
when your mind drifts north like so many glaciers
could i be jealous of all the trains you've ever taken
and the mountains up which you traveled because
they're littered with the growth of worlds you find to disappear in
full of redwoods and thick silence
translucence and yellow sunlight and dark green shadows on the ground
could i wish quietly behind closed eyelids
that i was the thing you took a train for
to escape to
could i be jealous of all the curtains in your room
they've seen you anchored and stationary
they've cradled the breath you exhaled in their transparent bodies
they've held back all the weight of the moon with their stitches
so you could sleep.
couldn't i do that for you?
could i be jealous of all the songs you've ever
hummed
they settle like cats in the
alleyway
underneath your breath
right in the ivy stained spot where i wish
my name could be.
could i be jealous of all the raindrops that
have ever run with slippered feet down the bridge of your nose
as you stood in peace in downpour at the edge of a dock
could i be jealous of all the brush
that has ever had the chance to curl itself against your ankles
all the holly that has ever cast its shade over you
all the juniper that has ever been sweet enough to leave its scent lingering on you
all the evenings you've ever waded through
that have ever watched you, sitting still, contemplating, over the rim of the horizon
from spaces impossibly far out to sea
reveling in the pleasure of watching you
could i be jealous of all the places you've ever been
would it be right to want this badly
to be a place like that
to you
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