ALEX & MATT GOT MARRIED AND WE HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY

Words By Solomon Eversole

Take. Up. Space.
With your love,
Take up space, we say.

Laugh in the kitchen and let it carry down the hall
Spill out of the sheets too early and return with a cup of coffee.
Side by side teeth brush
And side by side sing
Even when the tune doesn’t match
Let it imbue your steps with a rhythm that others want to step to,
Step with,
But not step on.

Throw up the window and have a conversation about future plans
that bubble into the street so some passersby you’ll never see can hear it,
hold it,
and aspire to it as well.
And always a front door kiss,
no matter what,
a front door kiss before you leave for the trip
Or the day
Or just to put the trash down the shoot

And Gretchen or Gertrude or Grace down the hall sneaks a peak because it reminds her of her first love in that tiny place
up in Inwood before the war, before she had the money to live like this and his kisses were plenty to keep the lights on,
Dance in that market on 72nd street
because you like to hold each other under the florescent lights
and sway to miss Houston

which makes the day of some bright eyed fresh from Ohio kid with aspirations to find a “somebody who loves me”
in the dairy aisle
even though they are lactose intolerant,
And make sure people notice.
And look at each other
Look at each other with “those eyes”
across the passport control desks when they think you’re
traveling separately

In places where it’s illegal to be that kind of person
Or those kind of people
Or this kind of man
Be those men.

Be the men that hold the door
The men that hold the line
The men that hold each other
And hold each other close for always
Fold in friends,
Cling fast to family
And make space for someone’s who need love

Take up space, we say,
With your love,
Take. Up. Space.