Love in the Time of 'Rona (poems) book two
shatterproof
It’s easy to feel far away
despite our best efforts
Try as I might
some glass is shatterproof.
The question arises
If I’m not already in the room
how do I communicate
with gestures and muffled half-words
that I am in your arms already?
swept up in a gentle, pink wind tunnel
swimming in soft white blankets and incense and
philosophies and intonations and
healthier eating habits
you might not hear me
but I belong to you
dark water
We are a lonely generation
the tragic irony of being so perpetually public
At times like this
loneliness has the potential
to barrel right through us
bend us and break our bones
as if beneath a massive rolling pin
or leave us floating alone in dark water
unsure of which direction to begin
a dull ringing
a quiet, pulsing ache
words dying in your throat
skin hunger or whatever the fuck they call it
your hand is buried in my curls
your body is honey against mine
warm and holy and golden
you’re curled up in my bend
blinking away the barbed questions
strung around my mind
I do not feel lonely now
Termites
I put pen to paper to fumigate
the termites
gnawing away at the house you and I built together
it’s good wood
sturdy and supple; it’s weathered
many a rainstorm
fuck these bugs
I mean you know I love bugs but
I want to live in this house with you until I die
sprawled out on the living room carpet
trading life lessons and spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream
so these critters can take a hike
& if they don’t get the message
I’ll just write louder
gambler’s vengeance
The issue was that I fell in love with you when I had
no earthly reason to do so
like loving a tiny ember
that dances away from the bonfire
like clapping hands together to catch
subatomic particles
no shot and never was one
yet I loved you with an
adolescent fervor
a gambler’s vengeance
an answer with no question
& I hated you for it
I wanted to just love you
but I was so busy hating you for not loving me
that I found it difficult.
It was so clear in my mind
that you and I could tear open the sky together
break the sound barrier
become one another’s oxygen
if you would just let yourself
breathe
now that the air around us offers danger
I wonder how safe you are
from yourself
how much is the damage inside you turned outward
would I be happy to hear of your happiness?
who are you anyway?
how do I make peace with the aimless, unbroken love I still
feel for you,
spinning through my bloodstream
and occasionally
making me itch to call and say this was all just a big misunderstanding?