I rode shotgun in your sedan
full of squirrels
and we’d argue about who was better
Byron or Keroauc
on the road
we’d dissect movies
drink impossible amounts of coffee
and smoke back when i smoked
cigars for you, reds for me
we dreamed up books and shows
and laughed ourselves sideways
in the booths of the restaurants we closed
and i loved you
how i loved you. but when you asked
all i could do was laugh
because she was out there somewhere perfect to your perfect
and i was destined to be
nothing
if not a sister
my dear, dear brother
we both know we were Long lost twins
carried up a ravine
and given to good folk
and look at you
happy and succeeding
with her
and look at me. the same
and still able to talk to each other often all these years
because I’m not an ex
just a crazy good friend who always has your back
a sister from heaven’s days
Tag: Love
Talk To Me Again
How is it that what you love
you do not study?
when i study your face without thinking
or the ship lanes in your hands
i study the wrinkles of your worry
and of your astonishment
fine is by a lifted eyebrow
and downturned lip when i ask
you hate when i ask
not fine is when your face remains blank
how is it you do not study what you love?
when i study the high arches of your feet and how it puts a swing into your walk
how your toes dusted with hair curl when you’re concentrating
and all you can say to me
to me
is
tell me
Right
Do you love this ear here
the one you so gently kiss
despite its imperfect workings
or is it
my lips slightly offside
and smirking
or how i crow when i laugh
fall into cascades of hiccuping repeats
you said you said
howling
or is it my eyes-
ocean blue you call them with light built inside
whatever it is that drew you to me
speak true
that i may bottle it up
for some unclever day
when the brewing clouds cast doubt your way
let me capture that moment
with clarity you knew i was yours
so that i may entice you with its perfume forevermore
so is it
the lighting
the red lipstick -oh, I know you hate it
the way i drill you with debate
tell me
else i guess wrong
and curse you in Love’s fate
Mercy
As I cross the bridge to you
stranger that i am
though once we were bound
i give my heart and soul
do not run i beg you
it’s a messy lot
because of you
a bit disorganized since that day
but true
you know that don’t you
in the distance just there
i can see your breath mingle with the fog
as I cross the bridge to you
unbalanced shifting recovering again and again from fall
stranger that i am
embrace me should i reach your shoulder
clutch my hand if i can go no further along the swallowing bricks
and tell me once
you loved me
Then Other Nights
Then Other nights
shed skin isn’t enough
l want the wild on my own flesh
the panting pushing my own blood
i want wind and expert explosions from Cai Guo-Qiang
i want words without saying a damn thing
just in my breathing
in my wholeness
to
A List
How your lips are soft within your beard
The walk when our hands shied away into one another
as if they were home before we were
how you breathe into my chest when you are tired
into my lips
eyes locked
when you’re awake
how you wake up like nothing’s the matter
the storm of hair from a nap
how good you look in blue and gray
the challenge of debate
the miscarriage
the long, long illness
how broad your shoulders are
how much you carried
Love Looks Like This
Every time she moves
his breathing becomes shallow
the giant bear snore dies into a rumble
builds again as fire crackling through a log
then shifts once more as she snuggles down down down
into his chest
On Aging
Deep water lines
Swallowed up the bridge lines
learning you like butter and sour cream on your potato
as the waters rise
the unimportant bits and bites
make me wealthy in knowledge of you
and it becomes sort of a wisdom
one i will weep at your gravesite
filling everywhere with you
Coming to Terms
As I bury the day, my heart unblocks
And you limp out
We dance to Billie
I listen past breathless
Saying I can’t breathe I can’t breathe
You’re gone
You’re gone
You’re gone
Daughter
The unfocused rain
Background to a poetry book
And the shuffling of my daughter in
bed next to me
We digest this type of silence
Braid closer in its blurred accompaniment
Until hunched one over the other
The lights flicker
Go out
AbyKittiwake 