a fever trembles through me
soft madness, river of joy
to see you, half-asleep
like origami
all folded up and delicate,
beautiful bones in sharp lines
my paper-cut
heart of the sun.

i’ve seen the shapes
and lines of your fear
mismatched animal in a glass jar
the world rattles you but you don’t
wail; your wide moon eyes
paint more than this:
you are so much,
you are everything.

the nest of your arms thaws me;
you crack my air wide open when
you speak
rearrange the needles in my chest,
cotton voice lined in mirror shards --

        ‘survival comes in many forms.’

show me, then
allow me to know
your lonely, thicket-veiled garden
the orchard you fed your blood and
hid your hunger in, until
you picked me.

you gnawed at the peaches but
spat out the pits
like they were a secret you couldn’t
keep.
explain to me, how you kept
that slow shivering spring
all to yourself;
that graceful richness
that gentle strength
they couldn’t carve
right out of you.

less than
these things all clotted me
but you still freely flow
jagged child, true heart of mine --
unto yourself endlessly.
you’re not peaceful but
you are kind. your kind
is my kind and i
am yours.

(my lungs want your lungs
like my lips want your nape
like my ribs need your ribs
like my hands need your face.
your wrists and
tongue
and sorrow
find their twins
in mine.

you drench my body
in swollen love --
your body, swollen, drenched --
you grant me
the seas of your skin
blushing sweetness, teeth-baring
grin
spilling clouds of wit against my
neck when you move --

i am offering you my bare
forever.)

sink into me, remarkable
prince of starlight --
for when you fight or
when you rust
my cup is full.