Opportunity

I can do
anything,

but sometimes I do
nothing,

Vegas, baby

My face flashes from grimacing to batting lashes,
from hope to fear, from please to thanks,
to challenging, to I

Topless with the windows open.

Life’s a beef stew,
and what’s a better way
to show what the flavor of a mixture
boils down to

Without the love,
where’s the safety?

Without the safety,
where’s the peace?

Your respect for me stands as tall and immovable
as the cliff. You ebb and flow,
as the lapping waves.

Sometimes I would like to be a hero—

Clean-handed, showing up,
averting eyes while all the villains
fall on their own swords.

(After I stare morbidly
while my beloved bargaining chips cry.)

I hung the skeleton on the outside of the closet.
Funnily enough, the skeleton looked like me.

I love you with
all the relaxation

in my shoulders
as your lats
bump my traps.

Cedar and birch drift beneath stone arch,
carrying you, carrying me, like the aliens we are
through black hole into universe unknown.