Blue-Black
Sweat rains
over a river—
I end in you,
delight in our
slick;we rub our eyes until
we’ve made owls
of each other:
under the lurching
fur of eyebrows,
the blue and green
of our sight glows,
flicks out and open.I pull my body,
an alabaster mask,
and push—your fingers
like pale…
— Kellam Ayres, Practice (via grammatolatry)
‘WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T FUNK WITH MY GROOVE’.
video directed by beloved dream hampton.
— Hermann Hesse, Demian
(Source: liberumarbitriumindifferentiae)
Because I mistrust my head & hands, because I know salt
tinctures my songs, I tried hard not to touch you
even as I pulled you into my arms. Seasons sprouted
& went to seed as we circled the dance with silver cat bells
tied to our feet. Now, kissing you, I am the archheir of second
chances.
Because I know twelve ways to be wrong
& two to be good, I was wounded by the final question in the cave,
left side of the spirit level’s quiver. I didn’t want to hug you
into a cross, but I’m here to be measured down to each numbered
bone.
A trembling runs through what pulls us to the blood knot.
We hold hands & laugh in the East Village as midnight autumn
shakes the smoke of the Chicago B.L.U.E.S. club from our clothes,
& you say I make you happy & sad. For years I stopped my hands
in midair, knowing fire at the root stem of yes.
I say your name, & another dies in my mouth because I know how
to plead till a breeze erases the devil’s footprints,
because I crave something to sing the blues about. Look,
I only want to hold you this way: a bundle of wild orchids
broken at the wet seam of memory & manna.
”— Yusef Komunyakaa, Canticle
(Source: yesyes, via grammatolatry)
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remember when you asked me
what one thing would all your exes say about you?
i should have answered
that i’m always running away.
and what could i blame?
the war
my father
that thing no one talks about
the home i grew up in
all the bad things that happened when no one was looking.(do you know how many times i’ve broken my own heart)
you’ve just taught me to to stay,
even if you don’t want to stay.
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