You are the pleasing smell of Chinese grease
I am the invisible motivation to frolic in the fountain
You are a stranger's giggle &
an invitation to dance
I am a Cabaret Voltaire 12"
& half a clove cigarette
You are the diaphanous nature
of auburn clouds at twilight
I am the woman who raised you
but never dared speak your name
You are that familiar left shoe
abandoned on the roadway
never finding its twin
I am an expectant evening
after an expectant morning
spent talking on the phone
You are the receiver
the near-silent listener
the breather of shared truths
I am the walker the watcher
the faint scent of prawns
near the dumpsters at work
You are a newborn angel
a pageant of colors & functions
I am a poet, no matter
where you find me
lost on a street corner
that I'll never own
You are a plane ticket, yes
only one way to answer
I am a handstamp still worn
but only as a reminder
You are the fairy lights
strung between broken
promises only barely remembered
after a night washed in rum
I am a cluster of strangers, drunk & excited
We are the gift of mystery, alone at the table
We are mutual, the future
the last to be opened
We are the mission completed
the present grown tall