i need

i need

the spirituality of skin;

joy
in flesh and bone
and all ten thousand emotions;

pain
that brings consciousness;

that ridiculous smile;

a grandiose chuckle;

chocolate or your eyes
or both;

a spine
to support yours
like a double helix;
a life vest;

a titanic heart
when i'm drowning
and there is no land in sight;

a lighthouse calling me home;

sand like time spilling out;

the wrinkled shoreline of neck;

to be able to say
the words caught in
my fishnet of a throat:

             good. bye.