You smiled and my heart tripped up the stairs

By: Ruby Browning

You smiled and my heart tripped up the stairs.

I’ve heard astronauts come back from space taller,

so long in antigravity, without the world hanging on their shoulders, decompresses their spines

You look at me right and I feel like a star-studded astronaut

Those moonrocks have nothing on my love,

her blood more heaven than hemoglobin

Just ask my spine, I am so much taller in her orbit

She cups my cheek, and tells me I’m so small,

but I take up galaxies more than I used to,

and don’t have the decency to feel bad about it

When I tuck myself into bed early with a kiss on my 14-year-old forehead,

I use nicknames I only otherwise call her

Do you understand me?

To refer to something, to myself, with love is to use her name.