Page 10 of King of Iron Hearts
The wet between her thighs like salted pasta water
The skin behind her knees smooth as a plum beneath my teeth
If I pierce it with my teeth I could break her open
And drink her right up
I was an epicure at a feast of delicacies
She is like the sea
Just because she chooses to kiss you
Again and again
Sweetly lapping at the shore of your boundaries
Do not forget
Like the sea
She could swallow you whole
She tastes like fresh brine
Like sea water
I’ll ride her in softly
Rocking
Like an incoming tide
And even when she ebbs after the crest
I know she’ll flow back to me again
The sea always returns to kiss the shore
I thought of her
In the dark folds of night
Between the pages of the sun’s set and rise
I thought of her in the midnight hours
With my fist around my flesh
Until I spilled like moonlight across my chest
The last time I prayed
It was at the altar of her sex
I dipped my finger in the holy waters
Anointed my tongue and baptized my lips
Until I was pure and made whole
By the religion of our love
She was small
But her heart was so large
I could see it behind her eyes
She made me feel ten feet tall and
Strong enough to move the world
How such a little thing could have powers
So immense
I’ll never know
Mostly because
She will never tell
The secret power of the woman behind the man.
He folded my legs back
Like two halves of a book open for him to read
Not to read
To venerate
To dedicate to memory so that
He could recite the taste of me
The smell of me
Anytime he wanted
They say you need an act of God to find a miracle
I found mine pressed between her lips
When she smiled
In whatever planes of existence there are
On any star or parallel planet
You and I are together
Infinitely
Inevitably
Because nothing makes sense
In any language or any place
Without our love to decode life’s purpose
You are a light that never goes out, no matter how dark my world becomes.
Nightlight.
She took my strained silence
And turned it to velvet
Wound the soft edges around my jagged soul
And swaddled me in the comfort of her love.
You bring me peace
By inciting madness
Because nothing feels so big
So hard and unendurable
When chaos reigns beside you
What a simple question it is
To ask what brings me the most joy.
Some may say there is no simple answer
But my response will always be:
Her.
Today, tomorrow, and yesterday.
Under the awning of the bookstore
When I kissed her ink stained fingers.
In the sheets of our bed before the dawn
Is even a thought on the horizon
With her face
Tucked under my arm like a sleeping swan
Beside the garage where the scent of tar
And gasoline is strong
But all I can smell is the apple
And sunshine scent of
Her.
You are more than the reason behind one smile.
You own the lease on my happiness.
Lion-hearted girl
Who taught you to mute your roar
Who took you to the zoo and told you that is where the lions roam?
When in truth it is the lioness
Who hunts down their prey
Who feeds their young
And protects the king of their jungle
So what does that make you, lion girl?
Queen of them all.
Is it any wonder there are so many lovers
Between May and December?
That the yin of fresh morning hours and heady new flowers
Would fit with the yang of twilight evenings and seasoned feelings
That someone so much younger could blossom under the authority
Of someone with real maturity
Love’s duality.
When I tell you to
Hush
It is not because
I don’t love the sound
Of your voice around the words
You want to say
Or the brain behind the power
To say them
I tell you to
Hush
Because you have a sharp tongue
To service your angry eyes
But a tender heart
That bruises after you
Weaponize your words
I tell you to
hush
When you say my name
Like a benediction
Or a prayer
Because I’ve read the desire
In your body
More eloquent than any words said
I tell you, my darling,
To
Hush
Because I know you
Not because I want to stop you
Because I am proud of the knowing
And I love showing
Just how much I care
She was half heaven half hell
And each met at the apex of her thighs.
When I worshiped there
It was both a prayer and a sin.
She was a queen
Raised to sit on a golden throne
In a kingdom of crystal and ice
All I had to offer was my sword of smoke and world of gasoline
With soldiers shielded by leather and coated in tatts
My currency was love and loyalty
In a market that traded in diamonds and class
I would do anything to convince her
That she might have been raised to sit on a golden throne
But she belonged on the seat of iron with a crown of steel
At my side
I found what I loved.
I was lucky
Because I know many don’t
So while I wasn’t exactly happy to do it
––To leave––
I knew I had found what I loved
And I was happy to let them kill me for it.
I’ve been making a puzzle my entire life
Exchanging pieces of my heart
With pieces from other’s souls
The trick is
––When they inevitably leave you––
To make a puzzle
