right from the beginning

whenever
we
embraced
we’d
each
be
holding
a
burning
cigarette
behind
one
another’s
back
smoke
climbing
our
spines
& around
our
wine
buzzed
skulls
like
we
were
rehearsing
our
love
on
a
funeral
pyre

_____________________

listening to the man in black

i pretend
that i will
die after
each song
& it makes
me hear
the deep
voice better
like it’s a gun
not pressing
against
my temple
but inside
my skull
taking shots
at my war
& sparing
my peace
& the hard
strumming
is like the
strings
are reins
shaking my
slow leper
heart into
a rapturous
gallop