love for me

okay, i

lay supine parallel

to the coffee table

with bare

back resting against

the scratchy beige

carpet.

close my

eyes

once when i did yoga

i had an out-of-body

experience; in corpse

pose, breathing, quiet

—for a brief moment

i was a boy in a poor

shack washing a clay

bowl.

for like—

seconds

and then

find the grate of my

breath against old

ribcage, prison cup

rattling along grimy

steel

bars.

breathing

 breathing

it’s a spark that never

goes out

a smoldering ember lost

inside the

deepest parts, a treasure

to be

excavated in time, with

gentle hands

give me your hands

and

call me

honey

& u scoop the embers up

w/your hands and blow

so gentle on it, an infant

in bloom, the scorch is

what u want, heat against

ur breast

how did—

fire beget man—

or fire beget ash—

which beget man—

you scoop up the embers

with your hands and blow

and blow and blow and

all that you remember is

your breath

sit.

sit still.

sit still you motherfucker—

i am lost and this is

a reel to reel with no

end i capitulate to

every incursion i

ramble on about—

the breath hits hollow

rattles against my

throat am i dying?

?

        open your

        eyes

        relax your

        shoulders

        unclench your

        jaw

jcb