Body Language by Laura Vincent (Ngāti Māhanga)

We had a secret wedding

I crossed my legs towards yours

And you, yours, towards me

and we created a space between

the church, the steeple

I will sit like this till my kneecaps burn

Because at age thirteen I read an article about body language

And thought, this is my chance

If you tuck your hair behind one ear

you’re pulling back a curtain

only for them

available and private

How could anyone not pick up on this

closed to the person on your left

open to the person on your right

safely concealed by your clamped thighs

hands tip-toeing towards each other

eyes straight ahead

every thread of the couch fabric a small fence to climb

We could find a celebrant – no – let’s just do it right here – barely moving – yes

First we breathe in, and sigh our vows on the exhale

but that’s too loud

next we silently mouth them

but that’s too loud

finally we let our facial expressions do the talking

blink twice for “I do”

while our friends surround us in this darkened lounge

watching the new season premiere of The Sopranos

and my eyelids crash together

hard as a car door slammed shut in anger

and I can’t tell if you did blink

or if it was light from the television twitching on your face

This is why you must be careful with your body language

The power didn’t always exist

when I first tried to communicate through the various foldings of myself

tonight the power came all at once

and it’s too much

I didn’t mean to get married

inside our mirrored legs

no longer a church

but a rockpool when the tide’s out

and now

I have so much paperwork

---

Laura Vincent (Ngāti Māhanga) is a writer from rural New Zealand. She has a thirteen year old food blog called hungryandfrozen.com, and her poetry and fiction has appeared in Entropy, Peach Magazine, The Spinoff, and the International Institute of Modern Letters journal Turbine|Kapohau.