# #🌿 6 poems ## [violet](https://chromato.graphics/violet) your aperture narrows as _f_ /our voices deepen sunlight burns through exposed cloth shutters we made you to protect an us we never realized would be safe as she is it’s no decorative pansy darkrooms reveal stains & splatters under safety lightbulb, glowing ruby our eyes don’t adjust yet we have twins, don’t we? is it sisters, not twins? god, no that’s a different flower entirely — rosemary ## [triumph](https://chromato.graphics/triumph) you outfit us in leather armor tie boots tight as heartstrings we dance and breathe as one enter prisms — offset blinking INFORMATION GLADLY GIVEN BUT SAFETY REQUIRES AVOIDING UNNECESSARY CONVERSATION underground, understand a halo grip my thighs below your wings breathe — you ask “_you ready?_” to leave, to ride, to fly. of course. don’t look down & don’t let go become part of a red machine: a bell, a backpack, a balance gripping tightly, holding loosely i am not afraid to ride with you to glide across rock and sound my pilot is divine, invincible even molded contours promise safety PLEASE HOLD ON SUDDEN STOPS ARE SOMETIMES NECESSARY as we swerve, we synchronize we’re on an island, smiling wide small compared to a lighthouse even smaller against your frame my sister thought she could fall along the same route we travel but i know i fell for you already ache is just what flight feels like ## [bonfire](https://chromato.graphics/bonfire) we spin on turntables gift-wrapped bubbles plotting high treason one query hangs on a hook near my thigh _“how do you want to feel?”_ you produce three words two supple, one sharp relaxed. caregiven. surrender. we better not have another handle’s cold to the touch i hold your hand for warmth fetching a towel and water unfamiliar closet and faucet you aren’t used to this, are you? inside these walls, a forest i lead you down the worn path to a fire blazing at the center it’s just us dancing there — adjust angles, rhyme rhythms dig holes with feet and fingers you haven’t visited in years moonlight in an empty room i’ve never been, but will again draw maps into memory twist silver, pink, and blue the way back is circular ## [poison](https://chromato.graphics/poison) the black bottle kept just out of reach of those who fear my obsidian liquid a toxicology report: deadly in large doses but taken with care the hurting heals us sure, share a nightcap wince with me in pain we need this to sting no easier, knowing it small sips are sweet deeper drinks, bitter stone fruit can’t mask a burning this intense scared to let you see me like this — red eyes pierce pewter framing you want, no, need to as the spirit fully hits there’s no stopping this             _drink._ the cork is broken now ## [poke](https://chromato.graphics/poke) door opens— am i the fool? gloves snap, now i’m playing my role unstained steel tray cradles your tools you wash me clean, i cede control you sketch small leaves in purple ink i play with you, this is our game when it’s all done, what will they think? art, artist, work— all share a name calmly you ask “_ready for stabs?_” there’s not a way for me to know is this your temple or your lab? we share one breath, it’s time to go your sword and your eyes penetrate music and pain blanket my brain sometimes we should disregulate questions pour out, blood from a vein hours pass as you make passes pricks turn into private pleasure when we are through, our flesh collapses every mark is made forever ## [atlantic
  pacific](https://chromato.graphics/atlantic-pacific) i often wake three hours before your sunrise calls for a response logbook already soaked with ink we laugh, but even if we could, _why constrain our outporings?_ one winter day you ask for notes on undersea strings aware of both the timbre and tempo of these songs we start singing together i fall into an evening rhythm talking and yes moaning into the phonograph, my head then swallowed by the brassy cone our voices sound better inside when you open your ears again there’s so much weather to hear : wind and rain and quiet calm that lasts too long and means too much we keep sailing even without a map true, land divides us more than sea, but these two coasts call to us both maybe it’s the sirens or the sounds of wavecrash against the shore — the dangers of unfathomed depths