I count to three and grin
you smile and let me in
we sit and watch the wall
you painted purple
Speech will spill on space
our little cups of grace
but pauses rattle on
about the way that you cut the snow-fence
braved the blood
the metal of those hearts that you always end up pressing your tongue to
how your body still remembers things you told it to forget
how those furious affections followed you
I've got this store-bought way
of saying i'm okay,
and you learned how to cry
in total silence.
We're talented and bright
we're lonely and uptight
we've found some lovely ways to disappoint
but the airport's almost empty this time of the year
so let's go play on a baggage carousel.
set our watches forward like we're just arriving here
from a past we left in a place we knew too well
Hold on...
to the corners of today
and we'll fold it up to save until it's needed
Stand still...
let me scrub that brackish line that you got
when something rose and then receded