memory

it is impossible to fit all this into me

tattoo the orange-brown gradients, curvature of the wave rock onto dark irises

capture the cold sun striking our bodies in gold-rimmed permanence

lace my lips with the ease of yesterday’s laughter

carve into fingertips the hollows that granite ingrains

freckle skins with the very stars transparent skies breathe

collect the unending seas, earth, heavens in the breadth of my embrace

already yesterday’s fireplace warmth is seeping from thickly cocooned bodies,

dissipating into thin threads of wintry air that form tangled snares,

carefully pocketed away

they catch us when we least expect to be,

drag us through the tunnel of flawed memory