names
if I knew your name, I would write it in bold
bubble lettering each second syllable
forming artwork out of each vowel
if I knew your name, I would write in my best handwriting
perfecting cursive to be able to make it unreadable to others
so that only you and me could enjoy it’s dark ink
speaking of ink, I would only write it in high-quality ink never bic or paper mate
but with fountain pens that I stole off the floor
if I knew your name, I would stack paper on top of paper so that every piece—afterwards would feel the letters of your name
kissing the trees that birthed you indirectly
if I knew your name, I would italicize each letter
naming its importance without having to speak a word
if you knew my name, I would want you to write it over and over again
as if an assignment to demonstrate your love for me
slow and steady loud and obnoxious, goofy and elegant
in rainbow gel pen or in Oxford blue ink
in pilot or montblanc
if we knew each other names then we would swap papers
with our names written in the others handwriting
painted in foreign ink and dried fingerprints
if we knew each other’s names our papers would know the strokes of each other’s pens
the giggles from passing the paper back-and-forth
the paper becoming our children, and with each sentence that grace, the paper or lineage continued
roots sprouting from the udala tree that was cut down
if we knew each other‘s names, every start of a sentence would start with your 0.7 and would end with my 0.5
the looping of letters tying our names together, our last name is becoming hyphenated as our papers caress edges
If I knew your name
If you knew my name
if we knew each other
—jam
(the image is from pinterest by bored panda)