1454

hit the cliche on the head

bury us next to your dead

that dog you miss

that’s where we’ll

come alive

skeleton lovers

two black masks

with two eyes glued

to the feet so I can

see while they

pull me up

like that fish from that

movie like that one movie.

/

for a while

I was your lover

but I don’t know any lovers

I just know scents

sounds

and the way lips move

and the way the sky looks

morning after

like white peach fuzz

like the little bit of hair

just below your navel.

/

for a while

I was your lover

but I don’t know any lovers

I just know

how to take my right eye

offer it like coal

from a miner’s black hands

hope you swallow it whole

so I can see

every part of you

everything hidden

kept like wilted roses

in the dark of my room.

/

I have dreams of

dreamers awash in indigo

brass coins and hay.

I pull my lips from the tower.

/

for a while

I was your lover

but I don’t know any lovers

I just know

what lightning looks like

tearing the heat apart

shuttering the corn fields

whipping across Carolina skies.

And maybe

I was your lover

and maybe I miss

the sound you’d make

while staring me down

a dog on the floor

but I don’t know any lovers

/