translation (for ruthie)

translation (for ruthie)

i have several things to say to you
meant only for the invisible hairs on the back of your neck
and my own cracked lips

things that look silly on a page
like
your eyes are elegant and
somehow gypsy
wild
and
bending your neck toward
the place made for you
(reminding me subtly of the maps
our bodies make, god the cartographer)

on my chest
my mouth was flushed new

having had it gaping in the seawater
and years of rancid currents pickling my throat
my tongue before this dawn moment,
a gray thing

the daylight
bashful on your face

our bodies rattle in our clothes

atrophied and quivering
running inland
the goldenrod sinking sand

a vision of your heart, a healing thing

collapsing on the beach
the sweetest feeling swilling round the corners of my jaws
and i know you're beautiful
buried in me

do you see what i mean?
nonsense
chances are,
your neck hairs would have understood.
completely