He Said: Poem by Zoe Nyght

He said

in a moment of retrospect,
with murky eyes
and that spontaneous, wildly surprising way
of his:

‘learn to Savor the sour and you'll Appreciate the sweet’

so I sat back and thought.
I've had him wrapped around my tongue
plenty-
tasted him so many times, when he blazed with fury,
and pride, and passion,
when his eyes raged like a starved soldier;
I heaped him onto my plate

and devoured his emotions like authentic Mexican salsa:
agonizingly delicious.
(s’true the only good stuff
is the kind that scalds your throat
and leaves you lying on the floor, beggin’ for more,
stickin’ your tongue out tryin’ to catch the air
laughin’ hysterically as it
burns.)
And when the throat aches from too much, as it will,
his soothing calm slides like strawberry jell-o
down, and down, and down:
refreshed—
true.

All this in a moment of candid retrospect-
we sit
on frayed brown seats in an air-conditioned Mexican restaurant,
being waited on
by an old man in a faded sombrero,
asking politely
for water for two and watching the conquistadors
ride by
motionless on the wall,
wondering
what it must have been like-
as we anticipate our salsa, the burning sensation, and
jell-o in little bowls.