LIN 16: the study of interpersonal language
we are curled up in bed, your toes jostling for a spot against mine.
your arm is a parentheses cupping my shoulder.
i am interested in language & cadence & the way we learn to
break
our sentences. the way we begin to speak
with the intent of being heard
& understood. & i am
writing a dictionary of your you-ness.
preserving for future generations a tome of
your patterns of promise,
pressing against you in the early night
(since your protest is against the underbelly of
evening. your protest is against my pride
but i settle for acceptance.)
&
your syntax is a song of
gentle similes, sardonic clauses,
your smile like the curve of a lowercase g
written in 1.0 gel pen,
your humor as a smirking porcupine
holding a warm mug of hot chocolate. your
body is a question mark & i am singing
yes, yes, yes.
Janelle Salanga is a self-professed Gryffindor and an ardent advocate of used bookstores. She is a current sophomore at the University of California, Davis, majoring in science & technology studies while minoring in political science and communication. When she's not coding or binge-watching Michael Schur shows, she writes for UC Davis Magazine as an editorial intern and is currently directing a vignette for Pilipinx Cultural Night. Her work has been published in The Margins, Occulum, and The Brown Orient, among other places. You can find her (re)tweeting assorted oddities @janelle_cpp. She is a regular contributor for Marías at Sampaguitas.
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