I Love Her More

She has a name hanging
in a back orchard somewhere.

Cowbells are ringing. I gave it up
like an omelet to a woman married
to perfection.

I am missing limbs for limbs,
heart for heart. Who am I to promise
life to another broken life?

Her name stands on a balance beam
between two tongues, heated tongues,
a melting puddle of ownership.
Where did she come from?
Where does she belong?

Tug-of-war. I own her more.
Someone who should have been born
is hanging in a back orchard somewhere.

I let her go. I love her more.

Hot For War

I’m not so angry after all
this time, he smells like honey, hot roasting in the damp evening. 
His carpet moves like the sea. I might be breathing, but he’s not. 
His blood is worn out in deep veins, his secret time is up. 
I am not angry this time, he positions himself for love and I watch,
jammed with battle fever, I am hot for war. 
A soldier holds no fear, and there is no time to speak.
He engraves himself with yesterday and I wear him next to my heart.
I am not angry after all
this time. His blood dries up and my ache fades. 
We are both permanent in a temporary place. 

The Ghosts Are Raining Tonight

The thunder is rolling in and
I am on the floor,
waiting for the black to
explode into something more.

The piano is warm, every key stroke
lights up the room,
outside strikes of light
and his perfume

lingers after his feet.
I live for the carpet that he danced
across,
his silent promise to
haunt me

through the storms
that warned me of him
before I was born.
My birth was a golden eruption
of time

that took heartbeats from my arms
and placed them
in puzzles,

in God’s masterpiece.
His Masterplan.

If I were a man, I would have taken them
back, painting a home
in the deep strikes
outside
of the waves of thunder and
light,

but I am a woman and I am
a deep rolling drum roll
floating above the rumble,
resting my head on the outline of his
chest,

breathing in between a memory
of heart beats,
shoving the rain out of
this room
and back into the slick black piano
keys that wrap his warm
arms around me.