King of Iron Hearts

The wet between her thighs like salted pasta water

The skin behind her knees smooth as a plum beneath my teeth

If I pierce it with my teeth I could break her open

And drink her right up

I was an epicure at a feast of delicacies

She is like the sea

Just because she chooses to kiss you

Again and again

Sweetly lapping at the shore of your boundaries

Do not forget

Like the sea

She could swallow you whole

She tastes like fresh brine

Like sea water

I’ll ride her in softly

Rocking

Like an incoming tide

And even when she ebbs after the crest

I know she’ll flow back to me again

The sea always returns to kiss the shore

I thought of her

In the dark folds of night

Between the pages of the sun’s set and rise

I thought of her in the midnight hours

With my fist around my flesh

Until I spilled like moonlight across my chest

The last time I prayed

It was at the altar of her sex

I dipped my finger in the holy waters

Anointed my tongue and baptized my lips

Until I was pure and made whole

By the religion of our love

She was small

But her heart was so large

I could see it behind her eyes

She made me feel ten feet tall and

Strong enough to move the world

How such a little thing could have powers

So immense

I’ll never know

Mostly because

She will never tell

The secret power of the woman behind the man.

He folded my legs back

Like two halves of a book open for him to read

Not to read

To venerate

To dedicate to memory so that

He could recite the taste of me

The smell of me

Anytime he wanted

They say you need an act of God to find a miracle

I found mine pressed between her lips

When she smiled

In whatever planes of existence there are

On any star or parallel planet

You and I are together

Infinitely

Inevitably

Because nothing makes sense

In any language or any place

Without our love to decode life’s purpose

You are a light that never goes out, no matter how dark my world becomes.

Nightlight.

She took my strained silence

And turned it to velvet

Wound the soft edges around my jagged soul

And swaddled me in the comfort of her love.

You bring me peace

By inciting madness

Because nothing feels so big

So hard and unendurable

When chaos reigns beside you

What a simple question it is

To ask what brings me the most joy.

Some may say there is no simple answer

But my response will always be:

Her.

Today, tomorrow, and yesterday.

Under the awning of the bookstore

When I kissed her ink stained fingers.

In the sheets of our bed before the dawn

Is even a thought on the horizon

With her face

Tucked under my arm like a sleeping swan

Beside the garage where the scent of tar

And gasoline is strong

But all I can smell is the apple

And sunshine scent of

Her.

You are more than the reason behind one smile.

You own the lease on my happiness.

Lion-hearted girl

Who taught you to mute your roar

Who took you to the zoo and told you that is where the lions roam?

When in truth it is the lioness

Who hunts down their prey

Who feeds their young

And protects the king of their jungle

So what does that make you, lion girl?

Queen of them all.

Is it any wonder there are so many lovers

Between May and December?

That the yin of fresh morning hours and heady new flowers

Would fit with the yang of twilight evenings and seasoned feelings

That someone so much younger could blossom under the authority

Of someone with real maturity

Love’s duality.

When I tell you to

Hush

It is not because

I don’t love the sound

Of your voice around the words

You want to say

Or the brain behind the power

To say them

I tell you to

Hush

Because you have a sharp tongue

To service your angry eyes

But a tender heart

That bruises after you

Weaponize your words

I tell you to

hush

When you say my name

Like a benediction

Or a prayer

Because I’ve read the desire

In your body

More eloquent than any words said

I tell you, my darling,

To

Hush

Because I know you

Not because I want to stop you

Because I am proud of the knowing

And I love showing

Just how much I care

She was half heaven half hell

And each met at the apex of her thighs.

When I worshiped there

It was both a prayer and a sin.

She was a queen

Raised to sit on a golden throne

In a kingdom of crystal and ice

All I had to offer was my sword of smoke and world of gasoline

With soldiers shielded by leather and coated in tatts

My currency was love and loyalty

In a market that traded in diamonds and class

I would do anything to convince her

That she might have been raised to sit on a golden throne

But she belonged on the seat of iron with a crown of steel

At my side

I found what I loved.

I was lucky

Because I know many don’t

So while I wasn’t exactly happy to do it

––To leave––

I knew I had found what I loved

And I was happy to let them kill me for it.

I’ve been making a puzzle my entire life

Exchanging pieces of my heart

With pieces from other’s souls

The trick is

––When they inevitably leave you––

To make a puzzle