Remember the time
it rained all night,
we watched from
my apartment window
the one in the kitchen,
tree branches thrown
in street light air, those
sounds, you wanted to
run out into the storm,
watched me as I ran out
before you, barefoot,
shirtless, jeans soaked –
it’s hard to write simply
why I walk so slowly,
its physical pace, with
you, holding my face,
tempering speech with
warm hands strong as
we were together, all
the business leaning
together sun to leaf,
tenses, nectarine, umber –
it is important not to rush
wavering leaves that will
fall in predictable time
from sill and charm
to room stillness, internal
clicks, shivers, multiple
givens withheld, we could
forever it seems never
exactly say why boundless
parameters of weather,
why people’s wildlife
tampers with our line –
but here you come
taking me into moisture,
brine, listing to the whiz
breaking wood, will
at least peel the grass –
this has been written
before, whoever says
it hasn’t hasn’t seen
our dinner manner
at some superlative
stage – I can only
think of