[poem]: an affair
an affair
A line of taxis outside your door
and an exit sign, looking nauseous.
Sometimes I bring flowers or a basket of fruit or a movie
but mostly I just take off my clothes while your shower is running
in the room next door, and lie down on the bed.
The clock ticks on the wall
but you're looking at me like you think I'm a highway,
a riddle that someone has scrawled in black felt
on the crusty inside of a toilet stall.
I don't like your mouth and I don't like your hair
or your cigarette-smell folded inside of my clothes
or your limbs, unfurling.
I've looked in your palm and it's empty.
The ceiling fans tremble like bells
while the smell of your cooking comes into the bedroom
as harsh as a baby's cry.
Turn the lights off
and for an hour the two of us will dream of ghosts
in a circle of chalk, in a wedding ring.
A line of taxis outside your door
and an exit sign, looking nauseous.
Sometimes I bring flowers or a basket of fruit or a movie
but mostly I just take off my clothes while your shower is running
in the room next door, and lie down on the bed.
The clock ticks on the wall
but you're looking at me like you think I'm a highway,
a riddle that someone has scrawled in black felt
on the crusty inside of a toilet stall.
I don't like your mouth and I don't like your hair
or your cigarette-smell folded inside of my clothes
or your limbs, unfurling.
I've looked in your palm and it's empty.
The ceiling fans tremble like bells
while the smell of your cooking comes into the bedroom
as harsh as a baby's cry.
Turn the lights off
and for an hour the two of us will dream of ghosts
in a circle of chalk, in a wedding ring.