R. Zamora Linmark, “5/31/2012”

Author: Poetry Editor

January 15, 2013

A new poem by R. Zamora Linmark treats us to a rainy day at the movies.

5/31/2012

Nothing beats waking up to rain
falling in my eyes I see only Audrey
Hepburn as a bookseller lecturing
Fred Astaire playing fashion
photographer a la Richard Avedon
on empathy versus sympathy beginning
philosophers say the difference lies
on how one handles imagination
think mountain that unexpected
kiss I once dreamt a poem close to
this many years ago but the words
went nowhere metaphors melted
before they could turn into an icy
melody I could cry Gershwin
tears bring me back those under-
developed moments I wished
I hadn’t given in or let up so easily
that’s what happens the very second
our second thought zooms in on
happiness not meant for me we say
for all we know how we feel rhymes
with Achilles heel and who wants
to be photographed solo in a wedding
wear outside Paris next to a brook
and a church in soft-focus because
it might as well not be there when
love switches from “He” and “She”
to “I” and “You” I do I make “je
suis” “je fais” “aussi” oh headrush
hurry be amateur again the song’s so
close I don’t mind the end falling and
filling the day like rain with more rain.

——

R. ZAMORA LINMARK is the author of Rolling The R’s and Leche and three collections of poetry published by Hanging Loose Press. He divides his time between Honolulu and Manila, where he is currently working on a novel, revising a play, and completing his fourth poetry collection ET AL.