life

Love
and legs
and long hot nights
and longing
Pain
and pan sticks
and pretty dresses
and pretending
Time
and touches
and taught lessons
and tenderness
Struggle
and staying
and standing firm
and stupid mistakes
Distance
and desires
and desperate cries
and despair
Care
and candles
and cuddled talks
and cute stares
Fear
and fun and games
and foot massages
and feeling silly
Choice
and chasing
and chiseled muscles
and charred memories
Hope
and hugs
and hurting hearts
and happy endings

sense me

kiss me and say with your tongue
what you would have said with your voice
kiss me and show me the pain
your tongue has felt and caused
kiss me and give me a taste of your passion

touch me and say with your hands
what you dare not say with your voice
touch me and let me know the lives
of your fingertips, their ups and downs
touch me and teach me to feel your strength

see me and say with your eyes
what you know to be true
see me and share the places you have been
and the people you have known
see me and give me a window into your world

following

A line of ants
each alone
all together
marching without a leader
bumping heads
pheromone trails
leading them
to the sticky-sweet
residue of a
dead mosquito
parasite turned provenance
food for five thousand

A line of people
all alone
each together
marching without a leader
bumping heads
mindless traditions
leading them
to predictable spaces
residue of a
dead school of thought
paradise filled with parasites
food for destruction

increments

One lowly flame in the middle of a dark room
like one novel thought in a sea of mindless tradition
Two bodies wrapped together in a soft skin embrace
like a velvet and silk bowtie on a Christmas present
Three little birds piping through the speakers
like a mother's lullaby, all whispers and comfort and safety
Four o'clock on the small electronic gadget on the nightstand
like a lighthouse keeping guard over calm but dangerous waters