Light - A Journal of Photography & Poetry 07 | Neglected | Page 8

MUNIRAH BISHOP | Venn Diagram: brain, heart, mouth
I saw a guy I used to know today
you stood behind me, my back up against you
side pressed into the oppressively shiny wood of the bar
if my hair was an afro we could have merged into
one tremendous curly Siamese pair of past lovers
could have spited him with our combined beauty
when I told you later how funny it was
we were all in the same place at the same time
the right place at the wrong time
the wrong place at the right time
the place time wronged
the wrongly timed place
the timely placed wrong
you didn’t laugh
in moments like these
I think of my words like a venn diagram
sometimes the brain, heart, mouth meet at the center
it is poetry
other times
they are struggling, pulling against one another
each stealing away to their own space
fighting the intersection, anarchy
I know what you heard me say
my mouth said, “Isn’t that funny? I just thought it was really funny.”
my brain said, “What a weird coincidence that three people so intimately connected,
yet so separate would converge once again so unremarkably.”
my heart said, “It hurt me when he moved on with you, and I felt a little better when
he hurt you too, but now I just feel very small standing in between both of you.”
you probably understood “I’m a callous bitch, isn’t your pain funny?”
and when you hugged me goodbye
I could feel the distance of our misconstruction
could feel just how separate our circles were
almost as far apart as my brain, heart, mouth
6 LIGHT