Phone Dead in Kreuzberg

by Dare Williams

---

Because I’m in love,
I feel everything now.
I’m walking my little life
to that place, where the light’s
long exposure
is on borrowed time.
I can’t help but linger,
my body like a frame.
My breath catches itself
at the sight of hundred-year
wisteria cascading down 
the building like a well
worn dress dirtied 
at the train.
On the corner 
the Turkish market
bursts with
the fog of techno.
I’m seduced 
by köfte and lahma-jun,
by the ever-expanding light
on the linden trees. 
I think I’m losing you. 
I think a tree always knows 
what to say. The clouds here 
are children free floating.
A bicycle bell in the distance.
People laughing on the bridge.
The street is opening to me.

---

A 2019 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, Dare Williams (he/they) is a Queer HIV-positive poet, artist, rooted in Southern California. He has received support/fellowships from Frost Place, Tin House, and Breadloaf. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best American Poets 2021, and is featured in THRUSH, West Trade Review, Exposition Review, The Shore, and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter: @Dare_Williams13