August 18th

Wrapped up your last pair of good sneakers

In the crease of my elbows

Went walking in your arms

The hangnail of your left thumb

Gracing my forearm to mark territory

My name is Anything But Goodbye

Yours lips sing me like a swallowed song bird

I walk a mile across your mouth

So that your tongue will grant me passage

In your absence

Gather the folds of my skin,

& Mark the creases you last touched with permanent marker

So I won’t forget

Your eyes, cool shower heads that forgive the dirt under my nails

Don’t mind I’ve been digging in the garden burying the corpse of your smile

Been told for my kiss Lazarus would

Arise//A rose

Bush bloomed between your teeth once our mouths parted

I pray it never wilts

The red sea of your open chest, crashed over my head

I part your arms and settle amidst the ocean floor

Listen to your breath

The rise and crest of timber

You howl at crescent moons embedded in the tips of our fingers

We touch like eclipse

We refrain to reflect

Refract like light, scared to stand erect

You are miles away,

But I still know your palms

The Peace that your Turmoil wears like a mask

How your limbs shiver under the weight of its fac/e/ade

You held me like I was the last chance for stillness

Moses I am not

Your tongue rang bells against the base of my neck

I prayed for your peace, to drop its mask

I prayed for your ship to drop its mast

Prayed there was no such thing as sinking

I opened my arms and walked into you

Your waters quieted.