My lips were like metal
and melted wax
familiar tastes of obligation
you know how it is –
I’m afraid to tell you
ravishing trace of stars streaming from the sky
warm July of self-abnegation
my hand searching for yours;
still, I’m afraid to tell you.
In the summing-up we all avoid,
don’t ask me what my life meant;
I’m under the car, face-up
defined by metal and the malleable
chromatography of bone and sheen –
love me if you dare
after a lifetime of being set up to fail,
you never do –
silence when you pull off the impossible –
words dance around it,
around what has always been
what always will be –
flecks of blood like stars inverted
wax melting on metal lips
bitter, bitter then sweet so sweet
love me if you dare,
but only –
-- October 27, 2001