I like to feel
beauty
against
my skin
its flame
an ingot
hot an ember
inflamed
sun burning
my skin to
red
beauty is
hot
and leaves
its mark
straps watches
sandals
white zebra
stripes by
twilight
beauty is night
glowing brown
sitting cross
legged ten feet
from me I feel
your sun
in my skin

There’s a dark
gnawing deep
in my belly
young I used
to love it
now it brings
me heartache
this worm
inside
burrows deep
and gnaws
at the heart
easily satisfied
this hunger
can multiply
into mistakes
shyness remorse
bitterness like some
plants when bitten
this gnawing
awakens me
and disappears
in my sleep

let me
sketch you
my pen poised
watching you
breathe and the
crisp sheets move
like whipped cream
my pen shadows
finely draws the
oil-rubbed bronze
of you

let my pen
outline your form
in highlights
and dim lights
caressing your chin
with my pen
charting my course

My lover
is a suitcase
away I
left him in
Charlotte
when I
moved to
Honolulu
he stayed
to be home
while I came
to find home
his parents
he said
were very
important
to him
importance
is what
I’m not
one day
he’ll visit
and all the
yearning I
feel will wash
away
because I’ll
be
important