MATING DANCES
regarding Hal Fischer’s not-so-secret code

by Isabel Cristina Legarda


Active on the left, passive on the right –
the semiotic instrument being
a red or blue kerchief in a back pocket,
or, less reliably, an earring’s glint.

It can be exciting and playful,
this game of ciphers,
but for those unaware of the rules
perhaps a little perilous.

For instance, a black ribbon,
choker-like, around a woman’s neck
looks lovely with her dress
but could put her at the receiving end

of a blow she didn’t mean to ask for
or nights in which her paramours
end up wondering why she tried,
in self-defense, to annihilate them.

Even when the signs seem plain –
a lingering pressure, a long embrace,
chest tight, hand over nape,
impossible to restrain that gaze–

our signals can get crossed.
Why can’t we just speak the truth –
I want you, but for just this moment.
I want you, but I recoil from loss.

And the truth for which no code suffices,
the one we crave and dread most of all:
I love you, and I always have.
I love you, and I always will.

If only we had signals for that
that didn’t cost our entire lives.
If only it were enough to light a fire
and send smoke into each other’s skies.


* * * * *

Isabel Cristina Legarda was born in the Philippines and spent her early childhood there before moving to the U.S. She is currently a practicing physician in Boston. Her work has appeared in the New York Quarterly, Smartish Pace, FOLIO, The Dewdrop, The Lowestoft Chronicle, West Trestle Review, and others. Her chapbook Beyond the Galleons was published this year by Yellow Arrow Publishing. She can be found on Instagram: @poetintheOR.