The air was so brittle,
Static crackles
Arced along the windowsills and tabletops
You poured gold into glasses
And rhymed to me
about German Matrices.
A winter hotter than summer,
To the virtue of zealous radiators.
Soaked in sweat,
And more love than sweat,
Each bead paint-rolling salt stains
On cracked earth bodies.
Let your rhythm be the heartbeat of my moment.
When I forget to do the dishes
You get so angry at me
That you hate yourself
And you cry.
And when you cry,
I get so angry at you
That I want to do something nice for you
And I cook.
And we make up.
And cuddle,
And forgive,
And I forget to do the dishes.
Chicken bone, chicken bone, voodoo dream.
Skinny Goddess, satin lover, sage and honey.
Vapor fingers climb your skirt and grope your form.
Tongues lick your ankles.
Ankle bone, ankle bone, my fingers crave your spine.
Clydesdale thumbs and golem digits long to rove the plains of your body.
She wants to go where he goes,
Know what he knows,
Be where he is.
“What’s yours can be yours.” She said.
“What’s yours can be mine, can be ours.” She thought.
He wants to go where she goes,
Know what she knows,
Be where she is.
“What’s mine can be mine.” He said
“What’s mine can be yours,” he thought. “Can be ours.”
Desert spider star, empty cradle top.
Your babies flown away, your wishes all used up.
No worries to assuage, no fears to reconcile.
No hopes, no needs, no hungers, and endless time to while.
The fading summer breeze holds nothing for you now,
But not a single wish was for you anyhow.
A black cloud,
ripe and fat with Thunder
Spun shadows
That crept up my walls,
Rocking me with drumfire
And peppering my silhouette
With lightning kisses.
The restless dark could not settle.
“Teeth!” She said,
and she said we were dead,
took the teeth from our heads.
So we ground our gums
till our mouths were numb
and we gnashed and chewed
till the bones poked through,
and before we knew
We had teeth!
Toby Hemker - Poetry