by D.C. Owens
(11/17/10)
that night
i took the mattress
from my bed
and laid it on the floor
it was midnight
an unbroken sky
hung low and heavy
like a woolen hood
i could hear
strangers' tongues
swaggering through familiar streets
bobby darin tunes spinning
madly in my ear
sex filled the air
like a tree i could wrap my legs around
i wanted to press on you
and feel you stand against my weight
but i couldn't make you stay
when i think of you now
i feel the moon rise in my bones
like bad karma ejaculating in streams
like leeches crawling on my skin
oozing life
i overdose in techno...
radiant, brutal and permanent.
slow southern nights
i can recite your words and the memory still lingers
hot wax and candle light
liquid pain on a slow southern night
sated appetites and wet lips
all this and a single kiss
i hear the echo of my name
i see the hour i first began and
i play this memory again
and again
and again
The Poet's Companion - by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux