To Approach
By Raquel Salas Rivera
treatment belongs to water.
it designates the sum of all relations one has with another.
you might say the life schemed between two is treatment.
to treat water is to cure it for consumption, but your
treatment speaks volumes about your desire to bear witness.
to treat you like water, i’d have to assume you as essential and
daily.
i aspire to this when i fall in love, that you be my water.
since we are both from here, we are a bit
contaminated, which treatment must consider.
i treat you like an island looks at another and understands
water is power.
i know i’m mixing things, but treatment is the mixture of all
the things
we did to each other when we they took our land, cut down
our forests
and distributed our crops.
it isn’t a metaphor when i say crop.
sometimes it’s a metaphor when i talk about us and water.
it’s easy to get confused with so much barnacle language
stuck to our wall.
confusion is a way of getting close.
i come close, fail, and fall in love.
treatment is the sum of all relations had
with each person i knew on this island.
each i loved, to a greater or lesser degree.
if they hurt me or took my shirt,
they are still part of the treaty we signed.