‘ballooning’ by Rosie Long Decter

while you rise i
pull my arms round
thumb inside index, rolling angles over
voice like a roof

2 am in texas waiting for an uber
you steal sidewalk from my feet,
or at the bottom of the lauder stairs
threatening to climb
if i hit a low soft decibel
i can keep you
midair, maybe

there are days your texts
flood my stomach,
ballooning,
and i grow into them:
inbox as a body as a house

there are others that stay calm,
let frequencies fall,
like us holding still last august
throats even with heat

over the years i gather
a few of you and each time
ask about the lift,
waiting for the turn

each time you pause and linger
enough to wrap a leg around;
so i curve until we sleep,
voice like a roof and you
standing over it

ROSIE LONG DECTER is a musician and writer based in Montreal. She works as Marketing and Publicity Assistant at Vallum: Contemporary Poetry and performs regularly in local band Bodywash. She graduated from McGill University with Joint Honours in English and Political Science and was a 2017 recipient of the Lionel Shapiro Award for Creative Writing.

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