if you asked me what i wanted

 

we have a balcony

that overlooks the old city, we have two dogs

that sit

at our feet in morning sun and the breeze

is warm like summer and smells

like pineapple and the sea

 

i

watch you across the table, you

look careless when you wake, you have learned

to love the morning for me

 

you squint

against the rising sun, you drum

your fingers across the back

of my hand in patterns of five

 

you ask me if i’d like

to have lunch

somewhere we won’t be recognized, let’s

fly to Paris and write poems together

on a terrace full of pots of geraniums and vines

let’s spend the day brushing crumbs off our pages and

making love in the shade by the river

 

i raise my coffee to my lips and say

yes

 

the dog yawns and settles down its sleepy head

again

 

and it is quiet

 

 

Artist Bio:

Haley Morgan McKinnon is a poet and playwright based in Portland, OR. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Pacific University, and works as an editor for Cascadia Rising Review. Her work has been previously published in The Almagre Review, and more can be found online on New Play Exchange, or on Instagram at hmm.writer.