John Destalo

John Destalo Aug 2020

her words
are needles

understanding
pressure

points
she can

give or
release pain

excruciating
or ecstasy

I am at
her mercy

John Destalo Aug 2020

or machine

you ask me
questions

test me
confident

in your own
intelligence

&

awareness
of patterns

but you will
never

understand
the day

we actually
emerge

from our
mechanical

cocoons
your old eyes

will never
see the

difference

John Destalo Aug 2020

crave me

taste in the
deepest place

at the source
the impulse

that spreads
into every cell

there is no
resistance

there is no
desire to resist

more than in you
I am part of you

deeper than
blood and breath

I am inside

the program that
controls blood

and breath

there is no you
there is no me

there is only us

John Destalo Aug 2020

like the sun

lavish me
in yellow

and orange

don’t be
greedy

let it loose

wash away
my years

make me
feel young

I want to
shine again

I want to
be the sun

rising
everyday

John Destalo Aug 2020

the root of obsession

if you remember
scratched records

when they would skip

you might understand
my mind

falling into a groove
repeating sounds

and words
and feelings

only it’s not as
easy to notice

and there is no one
to move the needle

John Destalo Aug 2020

the ballerina

her body
is a formula

a mathematical
recipe for

perfection
and control

each muscle

has a voice
in a chorus

singing hymns
declaring devotion

to her gift

I feel religious
when I watch

her dance

John Destalo Aug 2020

at night I cry

your words
have teeth

and each time
you speak

a piece of
me disappears

into you

I cannot
leave you

it would
feel like

leaving myself