every breath I've taken,
wailed at the sparkling wires, that strewn from the ceilings
clawed retreat at my chest, felt for every second,
that pausing movements, or
every tone was so pleasant. Forget
that I tore all the credit cards and crashed all the cars:
or you stood there grinning, or was that
that the chastisement on the breath

every movement scattered through my gaze,
the faint blip and rescinding speech,
every rest my small release: or then
she grinned and reached forward

climbed the syncopation,
then I stared forward,
and to avert the gaze is simple,
or then, I was reminded to look away.


if in spring the timing had been perfect,
now her climb at my shoulder,
then her frantic message, coldly relayed
and later the cautious gaze I refuse,
and the reaping for every corner,
and through the doorway that circumstance

it traced my footsteps, then every hour,
I wanted you to hear it,
then how carefully I had practiced

or the smiling gaze can diffuse:
and tired silence reminds you;
or I grinned at the finger to the lip

so then your fingers atop your thigh
were smiling against the wall