Lover’s Mine

By Kalina Smith

For you, I am a rockhound
decked out in denim overalls
and rubber boots,
adorned with shovels and rakes.
I carry a bucket in one hand
as I make my way to the mines,
ready to find all the gemstones
your love allows.

🩷🩷🩷

Like your hazel eyes,
shifting from topaz to emerald.
Your opal smile and ruby kisses.
Your onyx hugs and obsidian hold.
The things that surround you:
an aura of amethyst
and rings of jade smoke.
The soft tiger iron of your hair
and the rose quartz in your cheeks.

🩷🩷🩷

I fill my bucket up to the top
and lift it with all my might.
It’s quite heavy and I strain my shoulder,
but its weight can never measure up to
the amount of love in my heart
that even a five-gallon bucket cannot hold.

🩷🩷🩷

Kalina (she/her) is mostly a poet, but her fiction and creative nonfiction have also been published. She is a high school English teacher responsible for many courses, including creative writing. Kalina has previously been published in Nebo, A Literary Journal, The Ignatian, FLARE: The Flagler Review, the Cackling Kettle, ONE ART: A Journal of Poetry, RedRoseThorns, Down in the Dirt, and the Wayfarer and has work forthcoming in The Font, Porcupine, Superfan, The Dawn Review, Schlock!, Pfudalmda Dadamag, and Soul Poetry, Prose, & Arts Magazine. She currently serves as poetry editor for Shadowplay. You can find her on Instagram @kalinasmithpoetry.