the stubble on your lip
scratched as we kissed

and burned my face warm.

poetic prose
faded from behind my eyelids
like sun spots over the ice.

I can see the snarl
curling on the edge
of your

bottom lip
as you scowl
at me.

a burden of soft soapy tears
unfolds along my cheek

taking my make-up off,
and me along with it.

I offer my cold hands
to cup your blackened
remembrance

although
I am foolish to think
they will suffice.


blood smeared down my thigh
like a watercolor sunset
of my cells

and you were more tender
then I could ever recall

like a child smashing ants.

I left.
turning out the light and
stumbling through the biting
night as

you slumbered.

eyelashes shuddering
against your placid
glacial
dreams.

I'm hypothermic now.

my breath
escapes in
frigid jolts

from my
lungs.


so I walk away faster.

everything numb and out of reach.

my eyes sting blue
with a torrent of sleet behind them

.
the way a persons face
blurs when you squint hard at it

you're growing dim

.
the sound of your
beating heart
under foggy glass.

and I decline.

the trail of my fingertips
dwindles on your skin

and is washed away

with the
falling snow

. . .. .