i

Summer heat
a skin like warmed milk
temperature rising beneath
air ****** in from above

If I skim off the surface
in continuous brushes, pure,
roiling, fatty liquid
brings fever to my brow

When emotion cools
another skin is formed,
coagulated past
atop a beating heart.

ii

Walking together to the edge of the land and sky filled blue
making friendship seem like liquid we swim in
crashing against each other without bruising
happy to roar or stay silent in our skins
never as separate as our bodies pretend, sliding, floating, surfing our lives.