your laughter, it ricochets off me --
it remains an echo in my home
long after you've gone
and gotten on the G train, or maybe
the M, they've been
doing "construction" all summer and it's hot
but at least, consolation prize, i can
drink the sweat from your body
i love how it drips from your wrinkled brow,
deeply concentrated above me,
collects between your tits, chest hair like kelp
in tide pools.
i love your voice, deep and shifting and velvet
like the bay at night. i'll point it out.
you'll see.
we draw new lines of the body
on top of my bedsheets,
and in a great act of human innovation
you've got your fingers in my seams.
now that's a smile i could get used to seeing.
i would wear your collar, i would wear your name.
i whispered words into your breast.
am i so ashamed? am i so afraid?
the electricity of our first meeting --
am i terminal? did you feel it too?
am i capable of knowing you?
you can take me apart, hell, i'd beg for it --
hand raised, slow motion, a fist lands a blow,
i scream
and it echoes.