close my eyes

[andsheloves]

You choose which side
covers the heel, always
the same, humming, unrolling

their ribbed necks along your calves
before you run: out the door, down
the porch the walk the road the path that takes you
away from my loving grip. These brief,

sweaty escapes. If only you’d come back
with songs and famished lips. I button

my expectations quietly over your chest. You know
what I like: blues and Billie Holiday, your voice
let loose, wrung socks on the line

squirming to hear. Hold still. Let the music
run through your shredding heels.
Listen for when you don’t need me. Your ballads, your

filling me partly: all that is rundown, trailing
off-key. Thank God you know how to

sing, shut me up, close
my eyes as you touch
your voice to the sky.

- Why Your Tube Socks Are Holey; Anita Lahey