Teeth
We could have walked off a curving edge
making watery smiles at each other
As we float over grey
and slip under blue
my teeth can’t stop looking at yours
Fingers touch the dancing greens
while the tiny hairs bloom
in curls
(Will our teeth pop out
one
by
one
and scatter amongst the seaweed?)
*
Lashes
Do you ever picture me with my (peeling) lips
or my (wrinkling) eyes
or my (humming) voice when I know I have to go
because you want me to?
My brain is a happy collection of different yous – and I
breathe all of them with shut eyes
and floating lashes that curl upwards in a smile.
Let’s wander the streets together and wind round and round
Like the time I wore your coat because we were
wet
and late
and I couldn’t work out whether you were walking so slowly
because of me
or to shave off some minutes elsewhere
*
Skin
Do you remember when you were inside me
and you hadn’t bothered to shut the curtains properly because
you were trying to act careless and free
(I could see the light dancing and
dancing
over the fading beams)
And your eyes were doing that down and darty thing and you were almost
going
too fast
And then we’re lying with papery skin and hair and feet and heat all around us —
so I slip
Was it too fast
and over a bit fast and faster
when I felt you feeling away towards sleep?
“It’s like that time we were sleeping on paper and —”
Your feet creep towards the edge
so I notice the crinkling sheets and your silver touch
as my skin starts to fold its way inwards.
Did you feel the flick?
“Yes.”
You start doing odd nervy things like patting and making pauses on purpose.
I start searching the wall again for traces of your face
But I smile when I remember the time I thought you’d finished
but really you were just wanting to
fit
and
be
in
one shape
all meshed and heat-ish and skin on skin.
But still patterning an up and down
with sighs and rolling eyes and beady grains.
And I smile again when I remember that my head kept pressing on the wall too much
so you put your arms up and tried to push us both off.
And then I look down at my sticky silvery skin
folded neatly on the sheets
and I don’t feel naked at all
Artwork by: Molly Aysu
