Some Ways

There was no unfettered whole for
him; a bootstrap without an ankle.
It was only in inebriated ecstasy
that clarity revealed itself to
his jagged consciousness. Among the
seasonal mercies, his tepid attempts
resulted in only unmarked segments
of time, underutilized.

Given her generous inclination towards
amnesty, she willingly remained a silent
servant, humble in her purpose and ruined
of romantic apparitions. In some
ways, you could call them the
perfect match.

Edge

With ginger determination she allowed one splendid
glance at that pure, pristine slab of water, so calm
and deceptive. You almost drowned once, she reminded
her mind, and the inner landscape
has just dried from that flood. Natural disasters
have all license to annihilate absolutely, she thought,
yet somehow amongst the wretched rubble there always remains
some sustained life, called to re-root where everything
is suddenly different.
A slippery periphery of sparkling affection steeped up
sharply from the water’s edge. She still wanted to surrender
to that exquisite tumble; in the water splash each inch
of herself into rippling circles, feel her flesh lapped and licked
by liquid love, drenched in the depths of tender
trust and satiated shared experience.
But no, no! Remember the near drowning? The flailing
gasps, the stolen oxygen, the sudden stunting of all senses
save icy numbness and paralyzing pain?
Are we meant to return
to such challenges? Would he?