I want you to be someone else, to tell me this desire is original

we cannot otherwise part, the flashing lights occasionally reveal the impressions I was born with

I'll cut to the quick: the lights are coming on and I'm afraid I won't love you then

the kiss

your ebony cats glide toward us in tandem— you part your hair and lean over me on my side of the bed

we kiss, but I'm almost afraid to touch you, the truth may speak itself unwittingly as I draw the sheet taut against the length of my body

touch

the body ferries your spirit, disconnected as a dream from its birthing place

the space beyond the womb is untenable, every moment accrues strangely into age as touch is slowly relieved from you

lament in three colors