Sonnet 1031

Mar 26, 2008 - 12:54 PM PST

so stoned his brown eyes but still they scold without words they seer
i feel his pupils pulse pump like fists forced beneath my gums
his father’s frowning upstairs mother’s moving downstairs no one hears
my apologies as he stones his eyes they blink back rage that strums

across my starving stomach full of his love his secrets i fought
so hard to save that summer on his itchy couch covered with black dog hair
beneath his red-checkered button-downs, buttons getting caught
on my dull dangling earrings my dull loving stare

once we sipped hot caramel apple cider when the sky was dim
beneath the Citizens Bank sign you held my purple fingers
stroked the purple bruises painted across my thin limb
still tingling to this day where your cracked thumb lingers

i wonder how our parents never noticed never knew
how i muffled my mouth beneath the pillowcase with you