I WANT TO REMEMBER THIS

when i knew you less than a month and you made me a map of my favorite place in the world
going in to kiss at the same time; i dont remember where we were, but i remember how my smile made me miss your lips
sweetness in small doses; sweetness in the smallest moments. in the car, i enjoy you, i enjoy you so much, i like you, i really like you.
kissing at harling's between doorframes - oh that was really nice, it had been an hour.
"can i come sit with you?" during the bulls game from your chair, alex melting in the corner
licking my face outside the garage "i guess that means i really really like you" according to your dad's conversation about knowing when a dog loves its person

in these moments you are my person.

THOUGH IT FEELS FAMILIAR

despite a northern reserve

i am falling in love with you 

and i don't feel afraid

something new though it feels familiar

i must repeat that everything has a far stronger effect

the first time it happens than on subsequent occasions

soon it is spring in your eyes

a human sea

we stood awhile and breathed in 

the calculated suburbs, 

exiles among exiles,

and other worlds and phenomena of other proportions

your edges grow uneven

stronger than anyone wants them

a gauge for measuring the passing time

black strands curl into your ears

i long to see them lighten in the summer

golden under the movement of the lake

our bodies drying in the light

your name still special on my tongue

your skin still burning my fingers

the moon grows and glows,

men wait for letters, crush bugs

curse officers, swap dirty stories

all as i recluse into myself

like a dying man

forgetting how to sit in his recliner

i ask your ghost to please get the mail

in the same way that striking a match smells of a birthday party,

loneliness smells like death does

there are men in offices who are dictating potential

sending letters embellished with a stamped signature

igniting the beginning of an end

are we lost or do we still have a chance?

tell me how we aren't just loving because we're lonely

and tell me again how you like me because i make the world soft.

BE HUMAN

find your pulse loud all across your body. fingertips tracing the places where you're alive: wrist, neck, back, chest. there's something worth writing about when i feel so wonderful just making the bed together, writing secret notes for your pockets for you to open later, sharing quiet mornings with you. if i'm loose i find your arms again or settle for kissing your back. zipping up my jacket, picking feathers off my jeans, sharing our solitude, the way our day old hair tangles and sprinkles across the bed.

i'm biting my arms again; appreciating how simple and beautiful it is for someone to share the small and quiet of life with. smiling about the way you move and think - the way the open drawer irritates you just like your top button and collar aligning. loving like i'm learning you as a new language.