Sunday, October 26, 2014

How to split a body into two

                    I. 

It is one thing to handle what comes your way 
it is another to handle your snores, 
loud and vulgar like the laughter of a midnight dancer
deprived of sleep 
I lie, contemplating the night as your chest rises and your head falls 
into visions I can no longer access,
 places I'm no longer interested to explore 
I know your body by the inch, you know my brain by the corner
we are even

                          II. 

Half open, you leave each morning
the toothpaste cap, now in front of me
mine or yours?  We stopped asking a long time ago
when questioning ends, you blend like color in paint
you make a new color, your own 

                         III. 

Try a drop of oil, I suggest to you
you can rub the oil on your shoulders where it hurts 
You tell me you've been carrying boxes, weights 
I say I can relieve you from the ocean that's on your back
but you turn your head toward the bedroom door
and I stay with the television, talking senseless 
reporting a world, miles away closer yet than 
the stairway to our bed.

                      VI. 

Tonight is another dark room
the curtains are fully closed
it is awfully quiet here, under the clean linen
smelling of fresh roses
there's no snoring tonight
but I cannot fall asleep.

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