FREE VERSE Poem: I’m the Forest, by Jaci Latz

people pray to find the kind of love we have
the kind where
you can tell if I wake up angry
by the way I make my coffee
if I need extra creamer or if I like it a little bit bitter
that day
or how you can sense that some days I need to hear
“I love you” a few extra times
not because I forgot
but because it’s nice to be reminded

love takes time to curate though
and we’re the art pieces fine tuning each other
before we go on exhibit
we’re the prototypes on how to make love last

but before we were love
I was a forest
and you were the moss
and usually I’ll walk in circles until it gets dark
but this time I felt like I could trust someone that felt so
foreign to me

someone who approached life as if
they knew all the answers
because they’ve seen this movie before
they got to pick their character and they chose the protagonist
who keeps on getting it right

you reminded me that it’s okay to learn a lesson
the easy way
to fall into footstep with someone else
that I don’t need to take life by the horns
and then plead for help
like I wasn’t the one who took on too much, or like
I wasn’t the one that took on everyone else’s emotions
before I began to process my own

when I first met you,
you told me that there’s fresh grass that you water
on your side of town
you had me over
your house was well decorated
there was art on every wall
we talked about it over a cup of coffee
mine was extra sweet