my eyelids are doing that thing
where every blink takes longer
and      longer    and
i know your blood cooks when
i murmur it's time for bed
in some sleepy stupor (you know it's
cute) but you just can't get past the
frustration that we cannot
stay up the whole night and chatter.

And so I know I'm sitting here
writing for the sake of writing
and running on sentences because
my eyelids are still doing that thing but
you are in the shower now,
so i'll try to keep them open until you
come back
so that I can purr that i'm sleepy
as if you hadn't already been dreading it.

the Rockies that stand between us:

if they had the ears to hear my sighs

if they had the fingers to touch my spine

and feel the pulse roar; the skin

tingle, they would not just lie down,
those jagged dogs--they would
liquify, dissolve.

And the bones in my

knees--barely more than sediment--

combat the threat, the shaking

so that when those mountains

crumble fearing the 

cadence in my veins,

I can stretch just a bit taller

and feel that kiss again.

the truth is

there are nights that feel

colder than the ninety-

nine percent pure water ice that

circles, massed around Saturn.

that this is harder than
all the rocks and all
the hard places
smashed into one then
crumbled to the floor with
bare hands.

time-stained hands

i read an article that said
if I could spend more quality time
with myself, these
long pre-finals Saturday nights
would not have me
floundering in useless gloom.
It said to take up a hobby, to
get back into something I've missed.
An example?
writing poetry.
And so I said, okay,
I'll write some poetry
but I write so god damn fast
so that the words are down before
i forget them.

Well, this didn't help at all.

it has something to do with symmetry, they say

i have looked at myself before
in the mirror
and wondered what I could
change about myself--what would
make me look like them.
Would it be
highercheekbones-biggernose-widereyes-smallerforehead?
and it doesn't take long before i
remind myself that i am
beautiful and
so are you along with
every other woman and
there is no reason we should
    ever
bring it up
again.