The Night Talks • Vents

kissing you

fireworks in my stomach
awaiting death
the smoke worse than tar
and puffing out my neck

stars in my lips
untouchable by all
but the universe excluded
as gas burns and lights

fire in my toes
keeping me warm
unable to walk away
without insufferable pain

ice in my back
keeping me stiff against you
straight and cold
but warm under your touch

to kiss you
is to feel winter and summer
as fall and spring argue
and as the seasons mingle

give me that life again
that cold, painful life
just kiss me one more time
so i can die

die with my toes burning
my back frozen
my lips a constellation
and my lungs the 4th of july