Bricks

We are
Choosing pieces
Building a wall
Between ourselves and
Those who would seek
to harm us
And we build it like so:

Bottom course: The foundation

Your body beside me in the night
Your warmth your skin
Our oneness
Concentrated in the middle of the bed
The sides are lonely: we do not pull away
And when you stir, I stir
Hand on hip, comforting
My face nestled deep
in that soft crook of your shoulder
Your thigh thrown protectively
Across mine
Entwined, we breath in unison
We laugh about it sometimes – how our
Bodies sync

Middle courses: The body

Our morning dance:
You outside for the paper
Laid so carefully on my armchair in
The spot you know I like to sit
In the mornings with a blanket
Me at the coffeepot
And your favorite cup
With the jot of water to cool it
Waiting for you as you pass by
I read the paper while
You rustle in the bathroom
And we meet up in the shower
Each taking our turn:
I turn on the water and
You collect the towels
And it is magic, our time here
And I am always floored
To see you naked and wet
Like an animated statue
Of some graven Roman god
With the tendrils of soapbubbles
Coursing down your chest
I wash your back you wash mine
You dry my back I dry yours
Savoring those moments
Of tactile care

Top course: The capstones

You scrape the windows
I fold the laundry
You shovel the walk
I iron your shirts
You grill the steaks
I make the side dishes
You run the shovel
I push the wheelbarrow
Seesaw
We are in balance.

The Keystone

We have come a long way, you and I
Walked on the coals of our lives
Our other lives
Belonging to those other people
Who are not who we are anymore
And bruised and broken
Hopeless
We found each other
And like two tiny vines
We twine round and round
Indistinguishable
unextinguishable
Until together we reach the sun.

Two Steps

and to this
it comes
that I lie here fallow
like a cornfield gone dry
and sighing with the wind
all good things harvested
leaving nothing but the bones.

and there
the analogy fails me
I can't attach any more
significance to myself in this state
other than that I
roil with this addiction
this hollow yearning for you.

and this time
we have had
has spoiled me
for loneliness. I can no longer
brook this bodily silence
this waiting to be filled
this held breath in the darkness.

because you
inside me
is two steps from heaven
two steps take me
from a half to two to one...
to one, to blissful one...
as quick as all that.

and two steps
is all that
we can muster, alone. we
fall together two pieces
of a greater whole
magnet to steel
inseparable.

and fall
we fall
eyes closed, swan dive
of faith into this greater thing
that we become together
need against need,
soul inside soul, entwined.

and then
we are one
anemone fingers gently waving
blindeyed with bliss
not wanting to surface
even to breathe. we
barnacle down for the long haul.

but yet
it comes
to this. alone, I am
alone. just one. a shell
waiting to be filled, a magnet
without its complement. here
I wait for you to
bring me to life again.

THIS was an early poem, when we were first together. I found it again today, read it, and know that it is still true, will still be true, forever.

Two steps, B; my heart, my soul, my love.

Slipperless

And there it is -
you
only you
and it feels like
it has always been thus – only you.
You are the sun around which
my small and lonely planet orbits
you are the healing rain
on the stretching branchlets
of this newborn tree.
And I want to go calm into this
pallid day -
this
unfeeling sunshine smiling stupidly while
the people walk by
talking their unimportant talk
doing their unimportant important things
but all I can feel
underneath this love is fear
that we are late to this banquet
and the dancing has commenced
and I am Cinderella on the dancefloor
frantically waltzing
while the damn clock ticks
inexorably
beneath the blanket we’ve thrown atop it
and I am melting melting
because this heartbeat
beneath my ear
is all I want to hear for the rest of my life
but I hear the damn pumpkin
and those cursed horses
stamping at the end of the drive
and if Death comes early –
the cheating bastard –
I will tear him to pieces with these
manicured nails
and spin you one more time -
once more –
eyes closed, face buried in that
strong warm chest
your hair, your arms, your good smell
all around me
until my fingers have memory
and I can taste you in my dreams.