There’s a place of perfect simmer where the flame runs just so high, never quite to boiling over, neither still a tepid bath.
At least that’s what you insisted to me in your frustration at my inability to find a soft place to land between pulses of ecstasy and re-heated casserole.
Even still you love me like a whirlwind loves the dust, gathering it in by picking it up, steadying it's spin by collecting debris.
I thought we would make a respectable tornado, together, instead I find myself breaking loose from your gentleness and destroying homes, alone.
If only the weather could tell us whether we were headed for perfection or destruction.
If only the *** I stir could be a crystal ball.
If only I could love you as much as I do.
A huge thank-you to Jamie L. Johnson for co-authoring this poem with me and for providing a ton of encouragement during an extended period of "nothingness". Please read Jamie's work if you haven't already done so, she is an amazing poet who I admire greatly.