We ate ribbons with
greasy fingers and
comets fizzled
in our shiny eyes my
slippery tongue could
never spill out the
tiny knots that all
inched like the tides

In the marmalade
I taught you to whisper to
whisper spirals of
rippling shade your
rigid fault atop
my favorite shoulder looked
like a root dug up with
rusty spades

You kept scissors in
your happy handshake your
arms grew longer
with each piece of skin but
I held onto them
hoping they'd double round
my speckled back and grip
my father's chin

My teeth buckled and
bent between jaws that were
waiting for you to
feed them a cure but I
had to pry out the
cherry pit that you
chewed and chewed upon
til I was sure

There's a corner where
dreams often drag me it's
eery level with
soles of your feet my
fingers can't pick up
they are still greasy but
from the corner yours
look like they're clean