I watched laughter play you like a guitar.

TINFOIL STARS BY UMA DWIVEDI 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 26

I am built of iron, forged in the flames of an

explosion that shook the earth as one heart

fractured into two—

but when you say my name it

melts in your mouth, freezing into tinfoil stars

as each letter escapes your lips.

And I have never felt more

beautiful than when I watched laughter play you like a guitar

and you looked into my dusty brown

eyes as if I was the first joke you had ever heard.