Salt & Mangoes

by Dana De Greff

I was at home and lonely,
both in good measure.
-Denise Levertov, from “Caedmon”

Tina wandered all the way
from Big Corn, a tiny island,
actually, funny how small,
small enough to fit
in your ear. And the woman
(call her Sadie), wandered
all the way from Miami,
a huge city large enough
to drown in.
They came together
(not really, Sadie came first,
then Tina, then they came
together) pressed
against the white wall,
their pale and dark
covered in salt.
Tina’s tongue tasted
pinkened back scars,
Sadie’s lips trailed lines
smooth as mango skin,
thinking: “let this be under,
let this be around, let this
be through or inside,
but don’t ever, ever,
let this be over.”
Of course it ended;
if you’ve read
a book in the last
century, you know nothing
is forever. Forgive
the platitude. It didn’t matter.
But of course it did.
It did.

Dana De Greff is a Master of Fine Arts candidate in fiction at the University of Miami, writes book reviews for The Miami Herald and teaches poetry to children with O, Miami. She is at work on her first novel.