I try to peel a lemon for you but the cuts you tore into my hands sting like wasps all over, by Chelsea Tippett

Still Life with Fruit and Lobster, by Jan Davidsz de Heem (Netherlands) 1649.

I try to peel a lemon for you but the cuts you tore into my hands sting like wasps all over
 
the dinner table places us
on opposite sides of the atlantic
staring 
sending boats of communications
 
our distance brews thunderstorms--
guiding candles whimper out at sea
my words must float blindly to reach you
 
you receive them in haste
of time lost waiting for me--
you threw dinner parties
found yourself wasted among
men and women who looked--
no—who felt like I could have
 
when my words fell onto your eyes
they saw things you never imagined
 
I immortalized you in my love
with lines the pen sought from my hand--
you and I forever on a page together
 
now we stare—I at you
you at a centrepiece of colourless fruits
bright red lobster a delicacy
disturbed 
by that candle stick thrown on its side 
to remind you
I fought to find you here

Chelsea Tippett

​Chelsea Tippett is a senior at the University of North Carolina Wilmington graduating in December 2019. On most occasions, she's frozen in stress, contemplating writing nonfiction or poetry. When she's not preoccupied with that, she can be found on Instagram @aeslehc.