If I say

feet blistered by city sidewalk
in July's heat

you will picture bare feet
beside worn shoes
or dirt collected in sidewalk cracks
like fingernails.

But if I say

bracelets clanking against Spanish skin
and dress the color of love

you will not think of her.

Your mind will drift like seaweed
to when he opened the car door for you
or when she smiled over drinks at you
or when you both collapsed onto the couch
and traced the outlines of your bodies.

We all breathed ocean air
when the man named routine
took the day off
and we all sighed like seagulls
when he returned to take her away.
We all remember that day.