# #love 17 poems ## [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 ## [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 ## [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 ## [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? ## [a⸺part](https://chromato.graphics/apart) thin string between us stretching miles connecting our chests tension we can sense tugging twine winding over land we set it aside knotted tight when we’re together the rope uniting us untying now because we’re home we don’t need help to touch when we’re here ## [ftl](https://chromato.graphics/ftl) random chance meeting sweater that shimmers parties are fleeting your glances glimmer post selfies in slack our dms vanish a coffee date ask making a plan-ish? calls about lost work texts about gender watching your lil’ smirk my heart grows tender shopping for red skirts sharing a small lunch enjoying my quirks i’m having a hunch… flirting a little to see if it sticks too noncommittal? or does it just click late night at a show we let our legs brush at the bar i chose you admit your crush a ride to your place the tension growing sharing a small space finally knowing nervously waiting for you to arrive _fuck, now we’re dating._ we instantly vibe ## [t4t](https://chromato.graphics/t4t) i read that things used to be different for us. that we used to hide behind heavy coats, from ourselves. i read that we’d get compared to cigarettes on the street in broad daylight just for walking the wrong way. things are different for us now. not because we are the majority, but because we are not, and we know that. our difference is our value. things changed because seasons did. the old trees that once ruled the forest have fallen, been subsumed into the soil. things changed because our elders fought for us and their enemies dwindled. life is no less complicated here and now. it may be more so. but that complexity, that intricacy, that is part of what makes this worth it. i went on a date yesterday. they had two faces and three names. his lips felt like safety and possibility and becoming. we didn’t need to connect our brains with wires to see. we spoke the same language, we knew the same songs. our bodies united like an antique lock and key, lubricated with the oil of our passion. i want more. no, i need it. all my friends are trans. i broke up with the ones who weren’t. they understood. change is good. the people that don’t get that will never get us. not all change is for the better, but the potential for growth and for flourishing is all we have. the possibility that tomorrow will be a new day with new rules. and that we’ll be here for each other when it arrives. that we’ll nurture the seeds and each other. that we can. ## [just use mine](https://chromato.graphics/just-use-mine) he’s wanted one, i think, a while still growing his, it takes its time i wonder: _why not just use mine?_ our parts are modular by design they’re aftermarket optimized hot-swappable and still divine then i’m above and he’s below press into him, extend a loan tell him: _touch, like it’s your own_ he strokes it like a precious gift he must be worried, he’ll miss it the gratitude vibrates his wrist he shakes as need remaps the mind and both our systems intertwine we once mistake his flesh for mine i ask him softly if it was good he nods like i rewound the world we had made what no one could ## [stick](https://chromato.graphics/stick) winter cherry, lush pressed to the pane : clear swirling glass, vessels for grapes red print attracts gazes from gays strange artifacts mouths go astray first contact lasts longer than stains washed away fast — much like our brains they always say lips that disguise can’t be the way, but never the why shouldn’t we just paint what we feel even if lips must become the meal ## [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? ## [accident(ily)](https://chromato.graphics/accidentily) one fifty-four is not the hour to send texts, no autocorrect risky confessions clipped affections dimmed i love you’s from neon rooms could be a typo should i just lol or say her name, reply the same? an oops can’t erase the thrumming bass as juniper slips from her bruised lips tripping on her tongue _fuck. uhh. drunk. umm._ not that not yet or at least — not like this