217. Retraction

I am interested in the way beings produce light
and where they choose to reflect it.
Then there's you, my sugar-wolf,
devour being your verb
of choice. And it's always choice,
isn't it?

You do not want to be your parents,
your brothers. I do not want to be the person
that wastes away while you figure out how
to forgive them. Or the invisible blood
that makes you run
from your body.

I think your skin is beautiful.
All the places you've been, and I will argue
that you smell like you've been dusted in heaven.
Even after you've covered me in teeth marks.

You don't always have to play
the villain or the coward. I can only say please
so many times before my tongue
falls out. A person gets tired. There is so much more
to you than this.

216.

The street wearing a thin garment
of snow. In the kitchen, you pray
for the sound of a glass
breaking. Instead, the hum
of the appliances. You shout at the
refrigerator. It is no excuse.
Because you tasted the sweetness
of not being alone.

215. Addendum (Blizzard of February 2013)

Don't worry,
You're safe now.
You can roam
The entire city
With your clothes off,
Without having
To think of me.