Dear Iowa City

Dear Iowa City,
thank you for restoring my faith

I had believed in a weight larger than me
that introduces me, before my name,
lost it, like all good athletes
to other endeavors but this is a story for other times

a tear drops in the Iowa is carried to Chicago,
aboard the Mississippi, down toward lake Michigan
the places we meet take meetings further with us
to stay is a verb conjugated with memory, these days

dear Iowa city, home of hawks
I haven't seen one up close, but I am sure
bravery is kept at heart. Iowa city home of black
and yellow, two colors that contrast in me

one for mourning and the other for sickness
home for my body within the last ten weeks
a long time is short, outlived by minutes,
lived, longed for, imagined

this city, students and poems, poems and other stories
maybe I should learn to listen more
speak less, observe, men in jackets
women in short skirts

use more complex adjectives
for the city, its fire red sky, the faces
of friends on the street-corners
like a reality, never left

dear Iowa city, here I have fought
for one final time, against all the demons
the ones in colorful suits and the ones with red skin
I walked out of the fire with an ember in my hand

dear Iowa city, you have taught me closely
how I can still be with others without losing
my own skin, for that and for the faith
I will always be thankful.

Till we meet again,
bones in my poems, poems in my bones.

xx