I have been telling you “I love you” in my head
for a good long week now.
It is too early,
I know
for confessions of such a weighty
and often unclean word.
I want a kosher word for love.
Clean and cared for properly
Unsullied and sanctified
and blessed by one chosen of God.
I want all the true Shamans
to take sage to it.
The curanderas from all the way back then
to all the way up now
to take an egg to it
Shinto priests
to take some salt to it
and the Pope himself
To exorcise the hell out of it
I want the doctors to give some pills to it,
therapists to process the shit out of it.
I want a word, clean and pure,
that isn’t burdened by past or future.
One that’s got no secret ingredients and
no pesticides or suicides added into it.
I want a clean word for love
that isn’t about being “in” love or
projecting desires, needs, ideas, and hopes.
I want a word to say this love, this now,
ah, how sweet.
And nothing more.
© Sabrina Santa Clara, 2012