metronome

metronome

If you're not supposed to bring liquids on the plane

then they shouldn't let me on,

not with these tears,

spilling from over active lacrimal ducts.

The entire economy class smiling sweetly at my sadness.

Late nights under the southwestern sky

leave you longing for the milky way and shooting stars

long after you've returned to streetlights and stop signs.

Clouds sit on a plate over the lake, showing their soft pink underbellies,
safe and out of reach from our claws,
who knows how many times my nails have scratched your back,
how many times can I climb your spine
in a week? in a year? in fifty?

Your pulse is the metronome of my mind,
your voice is my resonant frequency
every utterance creates a shudder
a shiver and a clatter in this loosely sutured heart,
bounding behind my rib cage.

sometimes simple questions [will you?]
with simple declarative answers [yes.]
are the only ones worth asking.

Strong emotions demand speechlessness
stunned simple words
four letter expressions
and three letter activities

It seems like yesterday,
like ages ago
since the oppressive heat of that day,
the escalator,
the asking...

september 2oo6