deep within the very surface of my heart
(where wisps of the doormat
softly touch the ground
through imperceptible cracks in the threading),
laced into the poems i carry under my arm
(lilac shrieks in pewter blue walls,
scarlet bellowings states away,
the quiet ways cummings will always look like your eyes),
in velveteen sunsets
(the stickysweet sky is always warmer
at dusk than at dawn -
the secret that summer vindictively keeps from us all),
in how it feels to drive across state lines
(towards & away from you,
a tether is broken but we both know not really,
nebulous love carried by the clouds down the coastline,
my hair blowing across my eyes to the tunes of escapism,
waves careening on long island beaches,
me awaiting autumn’s vital return).