Slipper I can’t

quite kick from my foot

Pain   you know only

swaying motions

gliding forward   receding back

ever on that ripe summer swing


Lovers love that the grand

scheme of things

sits so far away

You told me that once

but a breeze blew past

whispering how I have

no lover   and no such scheme

actually exists


Sunburnt thighs

slathered in shadow

lying alone on the lawn

Pain   you are always

bursting with readiness

loud laughter followed

by sickening silences

Or if not out in the open

I know where to find you

wandering the underbrush

in deadest midnight

arms outstretched

Love me   love me

drunk off your own babble