floating
   tapestry of infinities

sparkles like the distance
   is sprinkled with apostrophes

lilac ribbons
   teal condensation

and somewhere
   in the middle of a middle

our spherical mass
  of wet paint-brushed clouds

blobs of rock
   brimming with us invisibles

find your hand in the mist
chasing shadows bleeding into night

strawberry juice coating the throat
kisses are like a sunrise

if this is drunk then let me keep drinking
the sight of you

the bubbles rising to the surface
like some newly-discovered champagne

when he opts for the obvious   again
this time   I think   will be the time
I finally pipe up and say what needs saying

that while I hope this fish dinner
satisfies you   the taste of the sea creature
on your lips   that salt and vinegar mixture

it ought to be me next to you   on the sofa
smiling or laughing at some ****** TV repeat
fork skewering the gone soggy chips

tips of our fingers stricken with grease
but worth it because our hands
will be a ruler’s width apart

and so   while I wrap your golden gift
slip the fiver into the till
as you puncture a Coke

I concoct my line of choice
something about fish
or how I’ll batter your wife

dislodge myself
tighten my jaw
summer is not
our season of bliss

choke on your flowers
swallow your sirens
the air is lethal
with nightmares

another chalk-written name

thunderclap behind the eyes
no time to count the stars
that dance
or should that be burning

brush me in a language
unfamiliar
like a splash of a kiss
or smoke in the throat

tell myself what I think
you would say
know I won’t soak
in your roguish potion

new melody I drink
disco fizz on my tongue
to strawberry ballet

chime of magic
down my spine
when you bless me with whispers

first time swimming
cathedral where echoes
make new constellations

handful of sunset
hundredth bouquet of thanks
look how you made room in your shadows

(     for me     )

things never said before

my sentences
plagued with stutters

pockets of smoke
my temporary desires

it's when you
strike the match

your orange apostrophe
that keeps me up for hours

lungs bursting
with out-of-season flowers

but it's a fix
cruel trick

the lyrics of you
lost into another

irretrievable night