Only

Emerald eyes
I was thinking of your emerald eyes
I was thinking of dancing with you
Against the same tune
Unwrapping your dress until you spun into my arms, only
Only my body you'll wear
And when you think I'm merely breathing
I'll be breathing you in
I'll dig my fingers deep into your hips
Like I'm sculpting you, only
Only you're already perfect
I'll lie with you
Naked and brazen we'll be
Two hands locked, and two hands free
And in the morning
Your brown hairs will be all over my bed
And I'll only be thinking
Of your emerald eyes again.

That girl

Is she not the greatest
Cacophony,
The most incorrect riff in your masterpiece?
Is she not a misstep and a misfit,
A hop, skip, and a sorry
Off the flattest of all your sheets?
Is she not too morose
For any day you choose to smile
And extensively, incandescently happy
On your most wet and underwhelmed?
That one extra, operative syllable
In your most formally metered poetry?
The very last minute run
In your only pair of stockings?
The off-tune violin string?
The single pothole
You somehow managed to fall in?
The hangnail?
The loose thread?
The nagging voice inside your head?
Is she not
The most marvelous inconvenience?
The shadow in your almost
Perfectly shiny bubble?
Is she not a mistake?

Is she not?
Is she not what thrills you completely?

Sweet cherry wine

I've got one lonely soul
Bones a broken xylophone
Hold me so under control
Until you play one for me
Behind your frustrated eyes
I'm burning deeper into sin
You'll feel my twists around your tongue
I'll feel you taking me in
Can't let you stay for too long
Won't you just let me be
A pulsating note across your throat?
A lovely default for "long ago"s?
Look at me from where you are
I'll be your old jazz memory
Vinyl shine, sweet cherry wine
Keep me right before I leave