Zach Fishel: LITTLE THINGS

Little Things

The robin sits on the ledge.
                  Songs fly in through the window
loudly.

You left it open because we kiss bare
                                    breast
                                    in bed.

Your hair is a kite string from when I was eleven,
                                    breeze resting,
but I had a four wheeler
to make my own wind, it pulled up and

stuck the plastic diamond 
                                    in the trees.

It was there after the house was abandoned.

                                                                                                   ***

                  To kiss you as long,
seeing what the light did as
                                    the draft goosebumped
                                    across your flesh

like the new chicken 
               we put in the dinner pot. The warmth of
               seeing the first bubbles cajole--- 

flickering propane,
                                    the stars opening like letters
from across the ocean         where we learned

the patience of crostone.
                               precise measurements of equal parts
olive oil,                  
pancetta, and bird breast.

How you slice onions in silence,
The wrist             hard and strong with grace.
Your eyes             teared up with grace.

                                                                                                  ***

Sometimes I squeeze the toothpaste the wrong way
                  to watch your hands

go where I press,
fixing the simple pressure

of my ruin

as I floss
naked in the bathroom.

To count
the times we’ve moved loudly

                               under the streetlights,                  

boots crunching snow
as we walk with the first scent 

of spring drifting into the window.

---

Zach Fishel is an educator residing on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. He's the author of Windsock Etiquette and Blue Collar at Best as well as several chapbooks from NightBallet Press. Currently he's anticipating 500 miles of hiking this summer.