unravelling

i broke the chain off my neck
tho you got it for me
valentines day one year.
our last, i believe.

it had a heart, but i couldn't stand
the way it kept beating in the hollow
of my neck when yours was already gone.

now it tarnishes in a box
and the delicate chain
is mangled, like a hairball
from one of the cats.


















*




somewhere in my inbox
is a virtual card
that represents the virtual
love you say you have for me.

it's a year old almost.
i haven't looked at it
but i haven't deleted it.

there is no fire that will burn it.
but if i run across it i'm going to turn it
into digital atoms, smashed over this
highway like the corpse of a possum
after sunrise traffic has passed.










()(*()*&&&







my eyes were prophets then
proclaiming a terrible god
out of lashes that parted
souls like moses.

we walked between what they saw
and what was past. you on that side
me on this. pretended we saw
the same promised land
for a while.

i blinked
and the water covered
us both.

















*(_)&&&&












in your ex
chair is where i try
to make sense of what you
awoke in me. no, not so much
sense as i try to make
dapples across the canvas
that empties nightly.


i don't have to take it apart
myself. i have beneficent gods
that do that kind of work for me.

in the morning there are traces
of brush imprinted
across stretched fabric
intertwining with my latest
efforts, distorting what i want
to say. in the end, i sign
my name with the link
that held the filligreed heart
next to my skin. i give you
the open space of a break
on an untangled chain.
how well your lips fit.