LETICIA PRIEBE ROCHA
The Softening
I say that short of survival, love
is the driving force behind the
entire human experience. You
assume I mean romantic love, say
that it’s all biology. Lasting only
long enough for any children you
may have to reach an age they could
mostly survive. 5, 7 years tops –
it’s inevitable. I suppose,
I want to say, that it must be
comforting to reduce it all to
dopamine and oxytocin. There
is a safety in that science, infallible and
easily controlled. In or out of that high,
you cannot be held responsible. Instead,
I choose to submerge my words in the
pool of things unsaid between us. I
merely nod – that’s what the studies say.
A pause in which you consider a
submersion of your own. Then, your gaze
overflowing with the softening
that always precedes lips coming
together: It’s so beautiful though.
Every moment in it is beautiful.
Leticia Priebe Rocha received her bachelor’s from Tufts University, where she was awarded the 2020 Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she immigrated to Miami, FL at the age of 9 and resides in the Greater Boston area. Her work has been published in Rattle, Roi Fainéant Press, Arkana, and elsewhere. She can be found on Twitter @LetiPriebeRocha and on Instagram @letiprieberochapoems.