First Meetings

A Poem

Photo by Evilicio inc. on Unsplash

you have a kind of peculiar air to you
in the moment i first glimpse you

you cock your head
as if you’ve heard a song on the wind

and then you stare at me
as if you’ve seen me in a dream before

then your face lights up (face lights up)
and i know it in a flash

that something’s happening
here

i don’t recognize you
even though you say you’ve seen me before

(but wouldn’t i have
remembered someone like you?)

(but wouldn’t i have
known you upon first glimpse?)

we don’t laugh at first —
we’re too awkward for that — but

something
in
the
air
ignites

and you ask me question after question

and you ask me if it’s okay to call

and i say — yes, yes, yes

as if the words were on the tip of my tongue
all along