treading water

but i promised to rake the leaves, joni | 2010

six shifts, shards
pieces of sounds
more familiar, he-
moving forward
untamed, moving
backward jerking
like a handful of
collar, like a sudden
meeting of surfaces,
one absorbing the
momentum of
outstretched hands

maintain the border
with fingertips
circling eject, fondling
the end, seducing with
the ghost of lack,
blank look, some sort
of void emotion, urge
to hate and tear and
eat all love like
the deserving, like
retribution only in
unfeeling, gin haze
eyes more honest
than ever i wish you’d
crack more often

just so i could feel
pink under my palms
and remember finer
textures in your
green expanses