when i like you

when i like you

i'll be quiet.

it's backwards, i know, but

inevitable. i persist

to extremes, sending you bits

to chew & piece a hole.

when i like you, you'll know

by the ways my eyes will look

away, by the attention

you won't directly receive. by the

hidden in my agenda, you'll see it

looming like cheek kisses, lips. closing in,

the exposure turns to irony. by the unmined

avalanches, the questions will form
themselves in our solitude.

by the pressing heat i bear

& birth, the willful wet flowers

fall into a new november. by the growing

humping unused season at bay,

you won't know the difference

between reach

& retract.

2004