WHEN COLOR IMPLICATE

WHEN COLOR IMPLICATES FAITH OR HEDONISM

God save me
From the trials and tribulations
Of being hounded
By missionaries
Sniffing at my door,
Stopping me on streets.

They see my brown face,
And assume the heathen in me
Dancing naked around a fire,
With body paint
On colored breasts and buttocks
Shaking wildly to devil’s drums,
In red jungles
Of the backward Eastern world.

I like to tell them
How I miss the dancing.
They ask me,
“Come join us,
We can discuss Jesus;
He is forgiving of all sins.”
I say, “Only
If I can wear my loin cloth.”

among other things

among other things

two words
a breath
two more
a kiss
one     almost
and you withdraw
thinking     of other things

CEREMONY

CEREMONY

i sat to drink
a weak tea of mostly
warm water,
and sugar, I pulled from my lips
to serve you,
the rim wet,
still warm from me.

you warmed to the idea
of drinking from the same
wet cup
you put to your lips
like honey, you thought it tasted,
my saliva you sat to drink
beside me.

AUTUMN KNEW BETTER

AUTUMN KNEW BETTER

Let me drink you
Like cordial wines,
Forbidden like long
Walks alone
With the wind
Ushering leaves
To walk with us.
The clouds weep for us.

Bottle your musk
And let me burn it in
Your absence, like opiate incense
The smoke and smell
Of a coming harvest.

Red I am,
Falling from you
My mother love.
Breath heavily as you leave
So I may follow clouds
To where you are
And learn by watching
Seduction from Autumn,
Catch you in my breath
Steal you back
In the fog.

BAIN MARIE

BAIN MARIE

Air moist
Like it was
From your mouth
Warm like it was fresh
From your lungs
And wet
Like I was
From your womb
In your arms.

Drawn and trickled
Along my pores
They opened
To you
My secrets
Sedating me.
You discussed them
Intimately with friends
Over fondue.

You
Women knew
How to melt
A man in baths
Of subtle emotion
Like water
Clung to you.

You
Like dark chocolate
On ripe strawberries
Bittersweet and always
Addictive.

TEASING FRUIT

TEASING FRUIT

I read palms
With my tongue and  lips
Lust full
And think of you
When I make love to peaches
My mouth
Whispers sonnets
The scent of flowers and words
My tongue cannot find
On your lips
Save the bitterness of love and
Aspirin you hid beneath your tongue.

TANGO

TANGO

Far be it for me
To fall for your wiles
Without partaking
In longful looks
At your game of blushing
And lashes batting
At my heart.

I would not succumb
To lowered gazes
Without mocking modesty
By gazing at your heels
Striking tile,
Rattling beats
I missed with my heart.

I would not choose
The irony
Of me writing this
As I picture you turning
Into a lush
With my every glance
At you.

the tenacity of red

the tenacity of red skin

a press
of cherries with     each other
passed like honey
on lips laced
with the flesh of the red
dark and      tender
wine of fruits and ripened
skin and      sighs
pursed and played
so close to one another
drawn            by the scent of it
passed between them

cherries and lips
in a press

like feathers

like feathers

softly i               slipped
from your hands
into your words          
cotton brushed
into blankets          
i fell with you                    

accidentally tossed
you words               
that i                    
                    love          

the last morning

the last morning

you in a voice          
thin     in whispers
came when i in a state of      undress
had none but           thin      
cottons to shield me
from distances you were planning
on keeping
as the secrets we kept
this long     under cotton
sheets and whispers
in whispers you told me
i in skins      received them and
removed      
stretched it over arm
and neck     slid off the layer
deflated form of my bust once
the width      of two of your hands
spread across my chest
in previous times

this time     dropped over your shoulder
this skin      a memento
that i let you this close
under the layers     for the price
of your whispers

master of tongues breaths

master of tongues      breaths

i came to understand
the meaning of your breath and
the pronunciation and implications
of the dialect of your sighs
an unwritten one
i remember you
taught it to me        one escape
at a time

there was that one     waiting
in the tunnels
you tested me and timed
it well and thought it lost
in the thunder and rush
of the passing train i        noticed
more than the faces of pretty
women within it

this one was               anticipation
this one wished          the tunnels empty
empty so you could stand
closer by a set of inches     less appropriate
          teach me other sounds
by having      me
having them graze the top
of my back     move the locks
on the back of my head instead
of having to hide
the lessons and language
between quickly passing spaces
of subway cars

the shorter breaths

the shorter breaths

did i take them
from you
words and sighs
when i           that close
pulled them     inhaled your thoughts
lips     given back to you in gasps
your mouth barely catching
up with worry and
excitement     i wonder
     if i made it irregular
your breathing          your skin
responses      


     was it           uncomfortable
               or just new
this type of exchange of      air
               and adjectives
          i read on your
lips       moved to let it out
and i to catch
my mouth to give back to you
slowly          in kisses and breaths
and laden implications     
     sweet with promise     relief
you inhaled      
     i sighed     

the smell of several

          the smell of several days

i wanted to set myself          rest
on your pulse points
like a musk for days
on safari when your scent
became strong and mingled
with mine      and i
more subtle       diffuse
closer to the details of your imperfections

have you catch me after days
in a waft while removing
your shirt      and remembered me
pronounced from the days
you had placed me     delicately
let me behind your ears
and think twice      about bathing
just to have me on you
          one day     longer

we drove and

we drove and

the air passing over us
carried with it the scent of sun
struck skin and me     flushed
i      preferred the smell of faint flowers
shampoo that lingered in
your hair 2 days after being dried
by the wind from a car window
and           my nasal breath
so close after a night
on a cheap motel pillow we drove
some more to prolong the breaths
we lost in      conversation
          each other and the smell
     of soap that faded as our
     scents grew on each other
after each nights’ rest
               pressed together
in a car          the back seat
sleeping    the bed
of your back
and the smell of slowly     becoming familiar

the tenacity of red

the tenacity of red skin

a press
of cherries with     each other
passed like honey
on lips laced
with the flesh of the red
dark and      tender
wine of fruits and ripened
skin and      sighs
pursed and played
so close to one another
drawn            by the scent of it
passed between them

cherries and lips
in a press

the long way

the long way

over passes
and bridges
under        i went
with you driving winters
on waters frozen
wondered how you’d feel about
sharing a pillow
when we had two

dry highways
3 routes to a cabin
in a cold Manitoba
plated wagon you chose
the long way

for the scenery
that road found
a longer view
of your face

(wondering what you)

(wondering what you)

secret sounding
you gave me
what I
(wanted)
believed
were calcified
pearls
shucked from your
lungs and lips
on pillows
tongues
you rolled
them there
in beds
and blankets
bounding mine
with your plastic
knotted pearls
you hid
(from me)
in another

sleeping shirtless

sleeping shirtless

there it is again     
     the smell of smoke and
                         skin
you and i          pressed
sleeping in a bag
on a mountain in a fog

smelt your hair   for
last night   s  fire

comfort     pressed you
your warm back
     closer to my chest

you    sighed

               i wondered
                         what that meant

i did

i did

wish it were billie holiday  (‘s)
camembert voice
wish the song in my head was like violins      
smoothing it                
its over
and you      are not

broken twang     of a country song
you came and went           
        over it               over and again
              playing it    on your guitar
       plucking              at my petals

       one    at    a    time
   did you   or   didn’t you

wasn’t enough that i did

through wheat fields

through wheat fields

silence was your romance
you listened
to the grinding of the truck
the engine with a voice
the length of us
quiet with each other
silent with saskatchewan
on both sides
content with looking
out the wind     shield for hours     
listening
to me breath
now and then turning
to see if I was still
warm and          sleeping

got away with

got away with


they were      white
your lips
stunned
that I brought color
to cheeks and           black
to your eyes


they were closed
          you shaded them
when i did it

broke your sparse
nervous rambling with
               my breath