from FOR S., 8 POEMS– 5&6–w/7&8

poems

5  Before Redressing

You asked me to use

Capsaicin on a crusty place

On the nape of your neck.

Naked on bed’s edge

You pushed up, held your hair

As I applied the cream.

Carefully, I flaked bits off

Without tearing flesh,

Cleaning, until new skin.

I blew flakes away.

You shivered–then turned,

Of a sudden, so so shy.

6  Your Massage

Easing you back, I remove

Your flats, black hose.

Now, pressing thumbs hard,

Work heel to toes between

The fine bones of each foot.

I kiss, our eyes meeting,

The inside of your right calf,

Your left knee, yet rising.

7  When We’re Gone

I wish you hadn’t deleted

The 600+ messages we shared,

Cavafy, koans, fiesty sex.

I smiled, laughed out loud

At your puns, double entendres

Every time I re-read them.

Your daughters, my sons,

Not horrified, might have found

Intriguing the kind of people

We were that year–the future

Eerily beautiful–a glyph

Lined canyon, then horizon.

                               5/13

8  After

Red bison, black stags, frozen

In fire light on a cave wall.

And, beneath the gallery, there,

Not together, a blonde woman,

A dark-eyed man.  This cave

A place of memories, we’ve come

To re-visit the past.  A past

Not resolved, only abandoned.