A poem to You: We, You & I

Four of Cups (Luxury), when reversed: New and unusual relationships and opportunities. The reawakening of your appetite for life or love. The path of excess leading to spiritual rejuvenation and the appearance of novel ambitions.

Love is a shelf where I've kept you in pickle-juice,
next to a sign which says please
next to a sign which reads do not touch.
When I applied to be your piano teacher,
it felt as if no one was watching it happen.
You named the chords.
I swung at the minor lift.
It was a duel of-sorts we turned our backs on
and left like a body rolled in sand.
I purchased a ticket to another city & flew there.
I arrived alone and said little
of the large white elephant that stood in the walkway, the lobby,
the pitiless smell in the hall.
Everyone I knew was heading off to work.
No one would hire me to play your piano.
No one would tell me the names of instruments,
a continuous silence played on the radio.
I was trying to remember the name of your city.
I was thinking I could get a job, ask for a transfer, show up
shuffling around in my purse--
they needed me here, i could say
when I happened to see you
and under my breath--
you needed me.