# #fire

4 poems

## [the zig zag cafe](https://chromato.graphics/the-zig-zag-cafe)

mb + [ClaireViolet](https://claireviolet.cv/)

switchback stair  
market manicules  
labyrinth reveal  
a hanging garden

third place jazz  
no reservations?  
but what were we  
before ourselves

finishing a talk  
with your sister  
a tinctured fire  
fluid solidifies

all black pupils  
sadist’s leaning  
considering want  
freepouring both

lamplight yellow  
redlight therapy  
shaken & stirred  
cry our eyes out

point of returns  
now that we know  
the place’s ours  
last words echo.

## [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

## [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