h o l d
me in your mouth for as long as you can.
such a bitter-tasting sandstorm,
half lightning and half man..
the rust in my windpipe
infuses my words,
so i lay them, unspoken,
along your cheek
with my shaking fingers.
not said, just heard.
twelve seconds to touch you with
and only two hands.
do
you understand it, why
i can never move like you,
i will n e v e r be able to.
you, of green places and rainfall
tracing me out, me,
of thirsting skeleton trees and empty, restless sands.
i feel
i go on forever.
i fear
i go on forever.
i've lost
every map
i ever stitched into my skin.
who's left to navigate
the sandstorm that i
close my eyes and lie down in?
mistranslated,
my mind.
war parties and flares,
swallowed up,
lost inside.
did they see some sort of path
in the whites of your eyes?
you rule all you touch with them.
i do not wonder why.
i had a point of origin at one time.
the twin engines in my chest
aren't broken.
twice i bang to get them going.
the lifeline wrapped in chain links
around my spine
is only broken in.. p l a c e s.
and all my bones have faces.
(everyone's bones whisper to them at night.)
the chargers underneath both my eyelids
hold races.
your fingertips
are searchlights down my wrists,
are quieting my skeleton.
if i thanked you
would you
f o r g i v e me?
put words to the things they say..
(sort through the corroded secrets and seething requiem.)
it's in there somewhere,
came while i was sleeping.
disappeared when i woke and started breathing,
came again when you told me to rest.
and since then it hasn't left.
put words to the fragile gratitude.
i won't. for i fear it
would sound too c l o s e to
i l o v e y o u.
