1042

the taste of her was spread
across those months
like ice on a thin branch
barely there
but weighing down
threatening a break
if
tragedy were to land

my mind swam the atlantic
nightly until its arms
withered and its legs broke
until only my back churned
against the irate sea

she said
“trouble is on the horizon”
and I
“trouble never left us”

then I felt a great chasm
a wide emptiness drinking
us both into the ether

in the car
my eyes threatened to split
reveal some damp forest
onto the wheels and my bones

I said
“do you think of another
man’s cock? I think of your
legs in lace or bare and
your ass and your hands and
your lips and how angry
and lonely I get when I drink”

time never passed easily
it screamed
bellowed against the wind
hidden in the pages of daily
planners and short calendars

do you know what I mean
babe?