# #💛 17 poems ## [hinge](https://chromato.graphics/hinge) door in our place i never open out of fear and too much want touch the knob — i am shocked sounds like a party in there but where is my invitation? missing out doesn’t scare me sometimes, it’s open a crack scents from the kitchen waft my favorite dish on the menu i give up. nothing better to do splayed on gray wool, rubbing nothing matches their rhythm the guests tire, it swings open streamers and confetti spilling must be my job to clean ’em up ## [photobooth](https://chromato.graphics/photobooth) shoes stick to the floor, we wander past the bar into a dim red-lit lounge. pinball, locked door, you. you’re a seeing machine. pull your curtain closed— shroud us in secrets that end just above our waist. tap on a train faregate, a beep reminds us that transportation isn’t free, a short trip still costs us. you’re a seeing machine. see what we’re made of. we’re trapped here now, we can’t hide from flash. all whirring and waiting. don’t know how long ‘til our capture, our release. we kiss from impatience. you’re a seeing machine. our mouths are blurring, hands in hair, bite marks in flesh. we have no time. falling back into the light. was there music before? we lean against the box, we cannot lose contact. you’re a seeing machine. you take time to develop. wait here: a strip will fall. freeze us in four frames. ![Black-and-white four-frame photobooth strip of two people kissing.](https://chromato.graphics/_astro/photobooth.CBK1CijU_Z184ngP.webp) ## [no](https://chromato.graphics/no) do i have to belt you? to overcome a bubbling or are my words enough to staunch the flowing from leaking fountains pleasure is never free, even when it is a gift. beg me with honeysuckle pollination. allergies. only believe in denial. muscle tension, hunger. dew’s wetter than rain. desperate questions tie barricade tape tighter. no. a complete sentence the longer we wait here clock hands move slowly waiting, praying on the dripping limestone tile a sacrifice in purpose. release is for the weak but you are strong, no? every drop metered out. are you grasping at it? there isn’t a shortage. don’t ask me again, now you know my answer love age years in the bottle our flavor concentrates only believe in denial. ## [dial](https://chromato.graphics/dial) two-tone composition unknown destinations an operator obsesses over pickup & hangup one +1 more connected than 2. you will. _and the company that will bring it to you is me_ push digits into holes, keep spinning until you feel the click in place switch arms, hands tire blinking countless lines, voice carrying fast & far on continuous copper wire silence costs us as much— draw X’s & O’s in octothorps sleep clutching our handsets there is so much to exchange during long-distance calling ## [entrapped
by Chroma](https://chromato.graphics/entrapped-by-chroma) meeting a Goddess, sunshine, envying its divinity & wings stripping each white feather, dyeing them all in her blood sewing souls into mine, stealing her golden halo it will never fly again— riding only in my hand my fallen angel: a bruised flower ## [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 ## [food](https://chromato.graphics/food) a girl’s gotta eat, grow big & strong food becomes fuel fired brick oven i have reservations, my seat’s set aside gin martini stirred— small coin of lemon. white pressed linens red leather cushions polished steel fixtures scarred marble veins amuse my palate gift from the chef _we kindly request:_ _no sharing allowed_ a girl’s gotta eat, wash away fears enjoy my choices wet lips, appetite taste first with eyes each flavor distinct: salt, grit, acid, burn hungering for it all the first bite builds anticipation of more— a mindless chewing, my posture softens i lick your plate clean _it’s been taken care of_ have i saved any room? no, some other time ## [use](https://chromato.graphics/use) craving total transformation, identity a disposed wrapper. becoming a vessel for want, glass poured into, overfilled. you haven’t been here lately. something in our combining always begins this reaction: photochemical excited state learning how to spark again — days ago: gel, pumps, bulbs, rattling pill bottles and nerves, black gloves, gold foil, silicone. it’s warmed up enough already. don’t ask or guess — just _know_. take a part you claim as yours, shape it to your pleasure. use. time stutters; the gears grind forward under prying pressure. repairing hidden mechanisms, counting every beat yourself. disappearing deconstruction: ripped apart by heat and light, shredded into a thousand tiny pieces of steel. shrapnel blast. there is stillness in oblivion, peace made in the darkness. clenched fists, soaked linen. i swear. i won’t move. i can’t. ## [AS 21](https://chromato.graphics/as21) if you’re hearing this, it’s ’cause i trust you. there’s a lot of detail, high resolution scans. i take an early flight. nothing good is easy. _what am i forgetting?_ chocolate orange peels. i program on the airplane to distract from humming in my eardrums; an engine whirring to life in my chest. she applies the night before risks her body just for more. she knows she has to see it before i remember my face. jetway’s made of glass, eyes have steel blades. _what am i forgetting?_ 54-inch red shoelace. _“do you want to get the fuck out of this airport?”_ she picks up both bags before i can say a word. she borrows a tapedeck. i hold her knee. _is this ok?_ the postal service can’t ship this in a flat rate box. distance desires ritual we find a matchbook _what am i forgetting?_ ashen coffee. burning. the next thing i know we’re at the terminal. lipstick can stain more than cardboard cups **time stopped in total:** 14 hours, 28 minutes ## [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 ## [wrist](https://chromato.graphics/wrist) i clocked the watch once and wished its red hand swept across your face i knew i’d want the date i saw the toy’s hallmark that predates its maker cupid’s bow pointillism it looked best in color i slipped on a staircase tripped on slippery oak fell into a concrete pool cut and bruised joints you caught me there held me — rubbed salt into my fresh wounds to heal and to hurt me a thin black strap is all that holds back the sun when this camera falls it’ll leak light forever three solid bands form an unbroken bracelet brass never gleamed until becoming a label holding mine down against white silk, gray wool, graffiti it’s easy to go deep ## [mirror](https://chromato.graphics/mirror) i’m sorry i bumped into you. i thought you were a mirror. your clear surface showed what they saw of me then. parties are meant for diffusion, but we focused instead. twisting the lens to almost make out what was there. i’m sorry i couldn’t touch you. i thought you were a mirror. i feared leaving greasy prints for everyone to see. museums of mailboxes and phones reveal past and future connections. a present — behind smudged display glass. i’m sorry you didn’t see me waving at you in the city. i thought you were a mirror. you weren’t yet waving back. being gay is hard sometimes. hotel bathrooms get steamy, you can’t always get the right angle before the image blurs. i’m sorry we were interrupted. i thought you were a mirror. i never dreamed anyone would walk through it and shatter the glass. i need to move but i can’t sleep. some things aren’t done yet. i’m hiding from sunrise, from men, under blankets and cardboard towers. i’m sorry i looked so long. i knew you were a mirror, but i couldn’t spot the vanishing point. some reflections distort; yours perfects. ## [readwrite](https://chromato.graphics/readwrite) have you ever had a girl cause engineering just for it, though weeks of design on a one-off built for the thing — to program it on the airplane commit to it: make it perfect, then install it when you get there, show it slowly touch a curved shape feel its edges unarchive it press it with force watch it open, animated every app must have its settings even if they never vary have you ever caused a toy to glow from within white light blinking when you read it you can see it: why it matters, what you’ll put there have you ever caused a thing to strip itself bare kernel panic! this will only take a second, last a lifetime deep within you type it all out hold it down now your domain, name hit the button have you ever felt an object as it’s written becoming yours ## [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 ## [eigengrau](https://chromato.graphics/eigengrau) the only way to ignore the sunrise is to close our eyes at daybreak white light pours through delicate curtain lace— an unseen ocean roiling more to see and to say as blue waves beckon, calling toward tomorrow but no matter what we try, there’s no true darkness. light seeps in everywhere the shade we find there feels almost ultraviolet; we see it together, apart in separate beds, rooms on opposed coasts, we conjure the same cosmos this color could be our own. when other lovers see it too, do they know we bathe in it? ## [108ÂșC](https://chromato.graphics/108c) sunny side up eggs cook with sunshine denaturation begs, bonds across time waveformed Q train park date prospects PascalCase names everywhere object polycarbonate layers exposed gold livewire angel of gay prayers film stock, unexpired bumblebee chapstick seeing in rainbows jet turbine fuel drips one port won’t close ## [bioavailable](https://chromato.graphics/bioavailable) there’s always a question when i come into contact with the substance of you. how much of you can i absorb? when you enter my bloodstream, swim my veins where they lead. the longer your half-life, the more i’ll feel you there, coursing through my core. the closer your shape gets to nature, the better i can fully take you in. drink you or swallow you or let you dissolve under my tongue every day as you transform me with area under your curves. when is my next dose?