To the rhythm

You stuck your finger in my palm
to test the water
Mocked my gait,
my smile, my thoughts
Hung framed pictures, threw down a rug,
rumbled your toes and asked for keys

I licked a spoon
fresh from a boiling pot of something
you'd prepared
kissed you gently, though you'd protest
assessed my own happiness and yours
and the shade of your eyes mid evening

I sighed to the rhythm of your temper
as the current exhausts at times
high tide in the late afternoon
when I'm brain dead
walled in and caged with expectations
when you're hungry
and won't eat

You laughed at the sound of my sigh
kissed me gently, though I'd protest
held my hips and washed the dishes
assessed your own happiness and mine
took down pictures and rearranged
molded to the rhythm of my day

Pieces

I came in pieces
Parts hauled together and made
to stick with duct tape and chewing gum
... toes to feet...
... cheek to jaw...
Mismatched ankles to reluctant shins
Hobbling in gangly discordance I moved along
through life, like dancing, nearly
Until I lumbered into a stranger
A gum chewer, who came in parts
tied tight with fishing line,
cooking twine
and seams inked on through self design
Too naive or drunk or happy to see
Despite searching I've never found
a matching pair of ears to sport
a healthy spline nor unused liver
While playing with my crooked spine
he noted my fault lines
took down creeping levees of tissue
kissed, bit, and nuzzled
with no consoling words heaved out
no notion such were needed
Through chortled love songs and hand fed cheese
he holds my aching cracking limbs
fingers woven together like baskets
tight enough to keep the water out
"you'll never cry" except in laughter,
he whispers promises he cannot keep
against the half dark dawn of urban windows
melting
into the cacophony of a methadone clinic's
early risers and a roommate's discontent.