Burning (1994)

1.
she sits at the computer
he stands behind her
afraid to touch her hair
unable to resist the fire

his fingers are matches
stroking her smooth cheek
she accepts the touch
eyes closed to all
but the music of the fire
opening unfocused
fluttering on wings of a bliss
she must cage

he breathes her in
like a man underwater
for too long
like it is his first
and last breath
(it is, you know)
he smells cocoa butter
and spice in her hair
he smells something
deeper than smell
and his cock leaps
up into his heart
on a dolphin spouting flame

They have worked so hard
to resist this moment
she willed to another
he willed to himself
but their kiss burns
with a third will
violating everything
affirming only
that they
passionately care

A kiss is a word
only here; when lips
part slightly and soften
all language dissolves
in the wet hot touch
of the unspeakable other
their breath is
the space of a vowel
a room a moon a sigh
a wave of unbearable sweet
sweeping away
every reason they
have to resist


2.
I'm writing this poem
desperate and drowning
in a desire which
never reaches shore
never exhausts in foam
between your thighs

I knew full well the price
I wrote this poem
in that kiss
knew where
this slick slide
of letting go would lead:
to everywhere and
nowhere; to this
page with its leaky
singing bloody words;
to yet another
morning's long walk
back to silence.
I knew, I knew
you couldn't stay,
couldn't let go.
So fucking what.
How could I resist.

I asked for this
chalice of flame
when my hand
reached down
your jeans to
cup your ass
I knew I'd burn
into cinders and soot
this is my sulfur road race
pumping hellbent again
from surrender to sorrow
what a way to burn
what a way to learn

she sits on the shores of the world
her red hair the wild sunset
I sail toward without hope
the sea a foam of writhing fury
the sky so blue
like her eyes
I'm trying so hard to see
in the dark of this morning

when I touch you
I am a poem
of burning poppy
exhaling your sweet fuck musk
down every dark corridor
singing through the lonely night
that stole into this room

when you pulled back
when you walked out
I'm burning baby
a pyre of pure beginning