At the nexus where the planets collide
I find myself, whirling into a spiral galaxy of thoughts.

He is at his writing-desk on Mercury
I pull his hand away from the liquid-silver ink he writes with-
he has been making poetry again.

I dance with him on Venus, our toes
sinuously tracing a path through the clouds.

We visit Earth, home of
past lovers and sad memories, but it leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

we fight on Mars, after I ask him,
"Why didn't you ever take me on adventures before?"
"Why didn't you ever ask?" but he doesn't see that
I did ask, only with my eyes, not my voice.

on Jupiter thunder applauds as gravity tugs us
closer
and closer together.

on Saturn we visit my father, who says to him:
a new era has begun. delight in her, and she will draw rings around you
she will encircle you with her affection

on Uranus we picnic through an eternal
vernal spring and the sky laughs with him.
the stars flicker with his shaking belly.

on Neptune I smother his soft cheek with kisses as he drifts to sleep
and floats awake, and I sink deeper in love because his kisses taste like pink seashells.

I reach Pluto and wake up from my ardent dreaming;
press my palms to the glass of my bedroom window.
My body is frigid- not from the ice of outer space- but
from the harsh October wind, and the realization
that this was only a dream.