I know you deeper than footprints
forming pock-like lakes in mud
after rain, mud that cakes between
teeth in boot and tire treads, mud that
tastes like 7-years-old and a dare.

I feel you heavier than tongues
made thick with alcohol and regret,
tripping like that one time I said
“I love you” to your full name,
first-middle-last syllables falling
together foreign and unfamiliar.

I see you brighter than bonfires
break dark with sparks that testify
to the momentary brutality of
hope, to the truth that smiles fade
in time with the passing of warmth.

I hear you sharper than winter’s sting
on blushing cheeks, cracked lips that
bear, and bare say bring it. Bring
flood, bring torrential, bring avalanche,
bring cataclysmic. I’m ready.

~ d.a