I read her skin like my favorite novel

memorizing the lines and passages of time
and tracing her character outlines

until we hit the ******

-- they call it the apex of emotion
I call it the pinnacle of her arch

because her back becomes broken dialogue
monologues reduced to gasps

while the innermost character struggles are flung
wide open, until a million errors spill out
punctuation out the window
grammar's gone through the door

my name becomes an expletive

I read her skin like my favorite novel
-- there's something different every time