Lighter Burn
If I was still in love you
I think I might ask you to skip school
with me tomorrow and to go anywhere
but our usual hiddenplaces.
To favor indulgence for once
and find new ways to touch
without really touching,
because we still like to pretend
we're still young.
I would smoke three cigarettes,
(who cares about the brand, smokes
are smokes)and take
a sip of the glass of your
mother's wine--Take it
right from your hand maybe
so that my breath would be
before I kissed you
and God would I.
Our lips would be whiskey
and we would down one another
in shots till we were tipsy,
wait, a little gone
wait, completely smashed
and then we'd stumble back to our houses
with the arrival of the dismissal bell
grinning like idiots.
But instead, since I'm not,
I'm sitting in my room
scrounging for sleep like a beggar
for scraps and wondering if you'll
be just as incriminating and permanent
as the lighter burn on my left thumb
I think I might ask you to skip school
with me tomorrow and to go anywhere
but our usual hiddenplaces.
To favor indulgence for once
and find new ways to touch
without really touching,
because we still like to pretend
we're still young.
I would smoke three cigarettes,
(who cares about the brand, smokes
are smokes)and take
a sip of the glass of your
mother's wine--Take it
right from your hand maybe
so that my breath would be
before I kissed you
and God would I.
Our lips would be whiskey
and we would down one another
in shots till we were tipsy,
wait, a little gone
wait, completely smashed
and then we'd stumble back to our houses
with the arrival of the dismissal bell
grinning like idiots.
But instead, since I'm not,
I'm sitting in my room
scrounging for sleep like a beggar
for scraps and wondering if you'll
be just as incriminating and permanent
as the lighter burn on my left thumb