i know

by Jessica Trumbull

movie theater music, previews
of penguins, we are the only
young lovers in a sea of old
couples, you smile at me like
we are a secret in red velvet
seats, something they cannot
understand.

but i can feel their eyes. i wonder
if the grey-haired man behind us
has always loved the blue-eyed
woman next to him, if they met when
she was sixteen, if their kisses
were electricity, if their love
was like ours.

your cheek presses against mine
as we watch the screen, but i feel
the audience has their eyes on us
instead. they drop their popcorn,
they slurp their soda, and i wonder:
are we their lives, are we
their memories?

when the movie is over, i look at
you and your eyes are sparkling with
leftover movie-screen light. the
blue-eyed woman stands to leave with
her husband. she smiles at me and
her twinkling eyes silently say,
“i know.”