wax
and if this is the closest i get?
hearing your heartbeat in your shoulder
the shape of my head curling into the crook of your neck, puzzle pieces
not-quite-sonnets
declarations under streetlamps
words slipping past mouths like smoke
curling up through leaves as it
dissipates
inches from your lips
watching you watch me out of the corner of my eye
feeling the ghost of your hand on my hip
i tell you i want to pour amber over this
enough to keep us here and enough for me to stop stopping myself, darling, i’m tired.
can we rest easy?
can i keep my hand in yours?
go on, feel the weight of my heart
tell me everything that's lodged itself in your chest
look at me like that again, cracked open and not caring
if this is the closest i get:
kept awake staring at the ceiling
trying to breathe through the ache in my ribs?
i'll take it.
Keerthi Sridharan is a poet and musician currently living in Taipei. A self-certified diplobrat™, she studies English literature and cries about Hamlet on a daily basis. In her spare time she can be found writing songs, drawing on her arm, and forgetting to charge her phone. She tweets @thecopperkeerthi.