"je t'aime…"

he breathed into my ear

lips so close that they bumped my earlobe

and made my pulse stutter

like the erratic twitch of a butterfly's silent wing beats

the words crept into my ear

on soft, arachnic fingers

and embedded themselves

into my naïve mind

I close my eyelids and

let the red and purple kaleidoscopes

of light lull me into a coma

of muted colors and shattered ribs

on that loveless night

we were just a tangle of

skin and heat and exposed organs

your lips filled the hollows under my jawbone

and fingers pressed into my empty spaces

if only I could be full of you

and never feel the loneliness

that bruises my cheekbones

on the nights when you are away

you are the air that rattles in my dried-gourd lungs

you are the beams of buttery-bright sun

you are all that I need, and so much more

too bad, that to you,

I am just a whore

10.1.08