i remember summer days
filled with coffee rings and slender strips of
pale skin
your hands were

always cold

and i would tremble under
spearmint eyes that burned into my
skin
"like a nebraska state road map"
my veins would burst with ardor and glitter and guilt
and you would pour venom in my throat and i would
and we would collide

i remember when autumn hit
like a tidal wave to the rocky shore you
shot my heart and
sent me to
daveyjoneslocker

and the sound of leaves [ d r y a n d w i t h e r e d ] was drilled into my
cerebrum and my soul

when winter came your touch grew
hotter
and firmer
and the slips of skin became
patches of shame and nervousness
and you were my
love
and my life
and you were bright

like the snow that burned my retinas

in the spring you took my hand
and I could taste spearmint on my lips
and my tongue was heavy with
newlife

when everything was pink
and white
and full of

Possibilities.

march2011