Mutually Beneficial or Not

I spend most of my time not dying…
I climb on a woman I love
I repeat my themes
-Frederick Seidel

I read somewhere
that most human body heat
is regulated
through the head
and the feet.
My three limbs conform
with yours, all together.
Four hands excavate
a lode of unfelt memories
that coyly bite on an earlobe
as a deposit of sleep unfurls
an orgasm of quiet honesty.

Down on you
and you’re down
further on the carpet
than I could expect.
Green shag melted
into green: a wind blows
a grove of trees.
You’re a stone building
with a temple front;
a Corinthian column of curves
mouthing unlit funeral pyres

Lightless for hours
then morning
until a crow sings
and you kiss me.
Mouth sweeping
into a bite of lower lip
and until a sigh is returned
I think about the uneffort
of a tributary: A body becoming
an entirely new body:
A thread being sown
into a seam

The moon…
or could we talk about
you again?
A breath
then two moan
an outline of shoulder blades.
A tongue tasting
the humble repetition
of a thunderstorm
in tomorrow’s lavender blossoms.
I could count freckles
on your body for hours
when you are asleep
or I could count
the Canadian Geese
hurling themselves
toward migration
to keep their bodies
warm at night.

Your hands
gave me something
I haven’t had a chance
to receive.
Still, they know
how all roads end
at the bluffs of your shoulders
and intersect with your hair
straightening.

For Lauren