A retired cognitive scientist, Albert N. Katz (he/him) has published internationally in Ascent, Fresh Words, Panoply, Pine Cone Review, Poetic Sun, Rattle, Rat’s Ass Review and the /tEmz/ Review, among other journals. His short stories have appeared in anthologies, genre-based and literary magazines.
If I were to talk of love, quietly
– (for JG)
I will not start at that moment I saw you first
with the silk scarf you were wearing
the dimple on your cheek
our first kiss, our first time naked,
the natural perfume of your skin
no, those days were awash
with needs and hormones that
do not define us today
a couple now, almost two decades
senior citizens
it is best then to not enter at the beginning
but in the communal peace that binds us now
you reading a book
me two-finger typing on my laptop
how, when you look up from your page,
and smile at me with that dimple on your cheek,
the never extinguished embers of a once more noisy fire,
flares and pulses with the cadence of our many journeys
from winters to autumns
snuggly covered, fecund, blooming and gently
resting
——