we keep our closets

i save mine
in a locket around
my neck--
keep the keys 
beneath my
tongue--
this is the place
where my body
echos like 
the whisper
of all the earth's
water in the corridor
of a conch shell
placed to the ear
of an eleven year old
girl who was also me--
i open the door
to fall into
the ocean--
splash & float
on my back--
here is where 
i grab 
handfuls of laughter--
stuff my pockets
with sun--
the four walls of
this closet
reverberate with 
refractions
of mornings--
of my own voice-- 
the sky
pulls a rainbow
through her belt loops--
oh & then 
my closet grows
lush 
when i was
little & i sat 
in the bathtub
with the shower head running
i would pretend 
i was naked in the rain forest 
the ceiba trees & 
cathedral figs wrappings
their
roots around my thighs--
i feel each droplet
gambol over my chest--
my legs--
drip from my branches--
the biggest apples
grow on the lowest branches
so i can reach--
i eat every single
one of them &
the door knob 
teases me & calls
me EVE
i've captured clouds
to remember how
to weep with every part
of myself until i
drop my small leaves
like the willow on
the hill with the gravel
path behind my parent's house--
a dog barks in the distance--
i see a dress in goodwill
& i know a girl who
would have worn it--
she is brave &
she keeps a locket around
her neck--
i live in the closet 
doors of her body--
her mouth-- the hinges of
her fingernails--
i am so in love with her--
with her eyes that
hold rubber trees--
her feet dusted with
sand--
she threads the rainbow
through her belt loops--
i put the dress 
on a hanger--
float in the ocean
behind this door
it is mine 
it is mine 
it is mine