Off The Record

there is someone outside
the window, looking in at my
dinner for one and
movie to go while
beatnik musicians
keep time for dancing ghosts
i do not think she sees them

south of here there's nothing
save magazine landscapes and dairy farms
chaff in her hair and dress buttons undone

sunlight
can be drunk
from the hands, cupped
spilling down my wrists where she kisses
write this down, i think
on sticky yellow paper cut
too small for any thought
bigger than "i love you"

self-adhesive glow-in-the-dark
ceiling stars hung above her sleeping
i wonderingly stare at the streetlight window
underneath the bathroom door
my eyes stay open, car engines pass below
busy with those secrets i've been keeping
distracted by her legs aware of unfamiliar shadows
slipping on the showered water-footprint bedroom floor

sleep to wake and find the sun
white-yellow boards of light beneath
reluctant skies that slowly smear
the snake dream
tied up under untucked sheets
hallway shouted something something something
and afternoon breakfast of
coffee and orange juice and bent Camels
rescued from yesterday's jeans.

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