Two boys
and girls
unclothed each other
simply at a picnic
flush with wine
alongside
sun-flecked trees.

The girls,
easy as the
forest round,
burned,
delicious,
as the boys
eager and nervous
in unequal measure
partly gave up
concealing
their joys
at forgetting
or remembering
in flickers
their bare bodies.

It went on
over nettles
and half-hours
and clambered
trees and
photos taken
almost formally
(on film,
of course).

And boyish lust,
at first sinuous,
a darting tongue,
began to
soften against,
for instance,
the sheer,
unthinkable
texture
of the two
girls carved
now backward
over the bough
of a storm-felled elm.

And there
in the embers
of evening
they learned
to thrill originally
at the vast,
gorgeous
and astonishing
irrelevance
of what
might happen next.

When I am with you the world comes to a still.
I look beyond what I know, striving to become knowledgeable, successful; everything becomes splendor in the wake of your words, as if your tongue weaves silver and gold into your speech.
Your voice travels to me, slow, rolling, calming like the waves on the ocean, lying next to the beach that I despise so much; I suddenly feel comforted that I can lie on this sandy shelf.
My heart trills out in joy when I hear the highs and lows in your tones, singing my name out in that second when I answer your call, so stunned by my anxiety that my voice goes quiet.
I push each pencil stroke with a new fire as my thoughts settle on your voice, your smile, the touch of your hands on my sore shoulders.
Because I am who I am, the second before you hang up I struggle to whisper, "I love you" before I hear the finality, the click that ushers in silence again.
Just so you will know, Just in case you forget.
Though I am lonely here, I feel renewed. I breathe in springtime mid-winter, when I would be lying face-down on the floor and stand, feeling the power in my bones rush to the surface.
I struggle to use words that might have meaning to you, that might make what you mean to me mean something to you.
But I find, again and again, that there is but one way to express what should have a million expressions:
When I am with you,
I love you.
And when I am without you,
I love you.