# #touch

10 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)

## [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

## [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

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

now please, sit back  
stretch out your legs  
relax awhile —  
furniture begs

pull off your boots  
i’ll kneel below  
slip off your socks  
and take it slow

bare both your soles  
flex all ten toes  
your footstool’s goal:  
to be repose

our arches meet —  
my back, your curve  
almost so much  
i don’t deserve

a faint perfume  
teases my nose  
the smoothest skin  
so rarely shows

i’ll work them deep  
with oiled hands  
their perfect forms  
each digit fanned

red lacquered nails  
command my eyes  
and higher heels  
you’ve made me buy

bare, they stay — no  
decoration  
focus trained on  
adoration

pressed on my face  
i’ll kiss you there  
and lick the base  
become ensnared

kick or trample  
i’ll take the pain  
with shoes sampled  
my body strains

pleads for pressure  
that space between —  
the greatest pleasure:  
touch from the queen

release the jewels  
that flood within  
wetness pools  
on shining skin

## [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.

## [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  


## [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

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

you ask me if i’m okay  
⸻ with elevators?  
which strikes me odd,  
the way your eyes do

we board & take flight  
to the control room, 42  
teacups on brass hooks  
carefully cluttered views

press my buttons, down  
with the same force you  
use to operate machines.  
the right pressure matters

the doors close around  
your fingers, lights flicker  
surging harnessed power  
i can’t look away, i won’t

we fall together back to  
earth where we stumble  
into your unmarked van.  
click of clear recognition

the next time i step into  
your cage you kiss my  
eyes closed and pull a  
lever  
          that  
                  **stops**  
                             time

we’re suspended⸺ trapped  
in moments of wrought iron  
pressed against their grates  
and each other’s full frames

             for as long  
             as we are,  
             we get to  
             be happy