# #photos

4 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)

## [incision](https://chromato.graphics/incision)

half decade wishes:  
a leveling out.  
forbidden kisses  
the right choice, no doubt

central park consult  
king cole martini  
review old results  
discard bikinis

photograph the curves  
archives in high gloss  
the things i preserve,  
they’ll surely just toss

day before phone calls  
rage at the system  
its stops, starts, & stalls  
need to assist him

sleep, holding a heart  
cleanse every surface  
wrong name on the chart  
_of course you deserve this_

wave as the doors close  
_don’t use the “b” word_  
eat eggs as you doze  
the artwork looks blurred

a husband’s phone rings  
let me inside there  
treat you like a king  
hold cups as your care

bumpy ride that night  
late rooftop phone call  
two beams of bright light  
never forget fall

a week goes by fast  
managing your pain  
see yourself at last  
straight scars and no drain

i cry more than you do  
it hits me deeply  
this thing that you choose  
didn’t come cheaply

a body transformed  
like overnight oats  
years since your plans formed  
i’ll keep taking notes

## [108°C](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

## [nude](https://chromato.graphics/nude)

back then, i saw your body just on screens —  
pinpricks of light transferred across the line.  
soft curves and folds, i felt you in my dreams;  
those pictures, now, are burned into my mind.

and then i touched your silken skin at last,  
traced these lines with red ink until they dripped,  
gripped thighs while kissing slow, then hard & fast,  
embraced to warm the places we had stripped.

but now i’m separated from your touch,  
yearning for the ways we fit, like jigsaw  
pieces you never need to force too much.  
despite it all : _i’m here. i won’t withdraw._

you’re nude before my eyes, no matter where.  
i’ll drink you up and leave them none to spare.