1
I learned while working in a factory
to love serial numbers. Their gift
is memory.
On a matrix switcher I found
stamped in metal
initials
of a woman whose touch
I still feel
if I try. I tried.
I touched the dry powder-coat:
it felt
like skin.
2
Rescuing someone from a life
is easy.
Appear to them
as you would earth
to a man on a boat
(pretend to be buying groceries)
3
I grow plants.
It was not for you, once.
Leaves touch light,
light becomes sugar.
So your gestures build, I will say.
Your light, my sugar -
leaves touch light
(gently)
This will happen,
all of it.
4
If together
we lit the sun
you would stay cold
because I would cover you.
If together we swallowed the ocean
you would stay empty
because I would drink from you.
If together we made mountains
you would stay clean
because I would build from you.
If together we died
you would stay mine
because I would remember you.
5
Between two bodies
temperature does not combine,
only average. So
too with hearts, I will
find without
saying, the time for
lessons having moved
into the quiet,
which feels now like it needs to
break, like leather, like
ice
6
I learned while working in a factory
to love serial numbers. Their gift
is memory.
On a matrix switcher I found
stamped in metal
initials
of a woman whose touch
I still feel if I try. I tried.
I touched the dry powder-coat:
it felt
like steel.