poem 1, spring 2022

My bait spills onto your chest,

The freshness of a chilly morning confined to a tortured night,

But the night is saved! And I am splayed across you,

Echoing lips touch, pave the way to under your chin,

I kiss you, whispering bursting platitudes

Later I will text you, as surely as I gasp for air,

“My life has never felt more fair, I have never been more in love,

Than when I saw the tuft of hair, and released my care as if a dove,”

We curled into each other there, and pecked like pigeons

At the discarded petals we picked, our cityscape barren but

We were as warm as the smile laden moment

I first saw you, wandering down the ragged hall, the shell of a canine

Turning to a friend, I said “that is the dog I will marry,”

Like my mother had three decades ago, as if lovers convene

By disguised chance, when really they just look like our fathers

And repeat the words of their mothers, when they tumble from

The mouths of house cats running scared.