Lost in Translation
Ahmed Elguindi

She said write about me
Like one of your lovers.
Describe me in such ways.
The way her bookmarks
Were dead flowers, given
To her by men who ripped
Them from their roots.
The way her hair would escape
The confines behind her ear.
How your tongue accentuated
Each vowel spoken through
Your soft, cappuccino foam lips.
Ways in which I lost you somewhere
In the translation of life and art.
Deep within the ink, mixed around
With other girls and ideas waiting
To be set free and read.
Write about me.
How the glasses never really fit
And lay resting on the bridge
Of your nose.
Or the way pen caps manage
To get in between your teeth.
Having me wish
I was that very same pen cap.
Write about me,
Trace in fingers my name
On the back of the next girl
You sleep with.