i saw a picture

i saw a picture of you
half naked in my bed
and i zoomed in
on your face
some imposed lines across your lips

every day i'm afraid i'm in love with you

i saved that photo
and it feels wrong
god, my life was a mess
but finding you again was like
finding my lost limb

twenty eight years old

all my mother's lovers died
she lives alone
you told me i'd move on
but i took that picture
three years ago

here i am

drinking whiskey on the blue ridge parkway
smile lines superimposed
i've never felt more put together
couldn't find a darker shade of blue
couldn't stop looking at you

all that was left

all that was left-

red eraser marks 

between scribbled hearts
on yr headboard

mapping weak knees
where we once kept
pencil shavings


the lines disappeared
leaving snippets of red string

the cat's cradle came apart
and our hands forgot the fun we've had


the delicate burden of proof
all that was left-

four ankles
wandering aimlessly
trying to draw conclusions

two hands tied up
holding nothing
but a tangled mess

sleep cycles

tiny deaths
dreams we can't remember

but we wake anew
find ourselves changed

new skin
new eyes

we have lived and died
so many times

you have come and gone
with different faces

new touch
new shape

finding old love
awake in new places

Reminders

reminders,
holes left in the wall

twelve, the cork board that held your tools
two, the door knob breaking through the cream paint

these walls remember what we made
love, a hurricane, a mess

the sounds of separation
growth of new islands

would these walls say anything at all
about the wrath of wild hearts

the calm of a flooded river
the change in the undercurrent

flood marks and growth charts,
reminders