She Stayed As Steam

all that music in your mouth
rivers rushing to your teeth
surging streams through wading valleys
flooded language tributaries
collect and cover over me
your tensing jaw and cork-screw eyelids
as if you couldn't bare to see
all that water roaring from you
collecting clouds inside the ballroom
over people who don't know you
but darling i do
you trance yourself back towards the city
blood not moving to your feet
automatic listless shuffle
your foot falls tentative and muffled
your sidewalk scatter brain cry uncle
you settle back into your corner
and look for her on your tv
it's friday night and i am hungry
for a hand, a mouth, a body
a love i wouldn't have to carry
so stitch in my mouth
that i'm untying now
a concrete canal
in a bomb border town
an echo in the rafters
reminding you there was a sound
but you killed her in waves
so she stayed as steam
to hiss at you now
'cause you killed her in waves
but that's not today
so you breathe through your mouth
calm yourself down
and hold what you found
so sweet and profound
she can hover and hurt
or dissolve to dirt
some prayer in your mouth
or she might stay as steam
so get to the beams
to figure her out