Somewhere Between a Boat and a Motel (Is a World You’ll Never Know)

The fireplace heaves light

into the room. The two ebb

and flow with covalent pneuma. The pitter

patter of fire sprites waltz each other up

and down the walls. They labor my breath,

skew my senses. The room slowly seduces.

I look to you. A waning bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon

clings to flicker.

Ebb and flow unite to ignite.

The trees of our knowledge burn with the ages

but blazes are sages and they whisper rebirth

and suddenly you are the earth, of red clay and

I am the sun. We meet in firmament. The bottle is done and

I’m floating in a sea of Iris…

Trapped in the din of your eyes, crushing wine dark hues,

trying to find the surface. Breathe! Final release, I gasp urgently between your lips.

…now Osiris,

I have begun. The bottle floats

empty, drunk off me, because giving is the one true high.

The orchid of your spine drapes itself over

the bed, unfurling its purchase into hot dark folds.

Your hips lay

encased in shaded sheets. The fire bathes

your face in light. Your eyes shout

back, irreverent to flicker monopolies.

You rise up, kiss me on the forehead

and then the neck. You whisper into my ear “Goodnight”

and let the night claim you. The rise

and fall of your breath gives a slow metronomic backbeat to the violent

improvisations of fire crackle.

I stay up and watch the flickering waves paint four walls.