Briana Naseer

Coin Toss

Maybe there’s no baby waiting at the end
of this mile-long string of months,
lining themselves up into years.

Perhaps I’m supposed to buy
a velvet couch to match the cat’s eyes,
pass my days scouring vintage shops
for an Issey Miyake dress I heard mention of
on an abandoned corner of the Internet—

our open nights spent swaying
together at whichever concert
tickles our fancy that week,

your thumb making circles against mine
on the quiet car rides home
after Mother’s Day brunches.

One day I might
get that ginkgo tattoo I imagine
on my forearm, the state of my body
no longer having to be pristine.

And I would be free of all the math!
Morning cup of coffee plus afternoon tea,
ovulation strip times basal temperature,
hours ’til my period no longer
minutes to midnight.

Is it so bad
that the hands of our alarm clocks
may always be drug down by sleep
and the promise of bagel sandwiches
on Sunday mornings?

Would I rather a lifetime
of skirting the globe as we wish,
adding mementos from varying cities
into our living room decor—

Manila for dinner,
New Orleans for dessert?

And nothing but time for the only other
who can understand

Briana Naseer is a Pakistani-American school psychologist and poet living in Chicago, Illinois. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida, and a master’s degree in education and an education specialist degree from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Her debut poetry collection is entitled Rind.