x
when I could feel her apprehension about her midriff,
Id have her walk up to me, cradle her hips
and rest my forehead on where her ribcage ends,
sinking in between the movement of her breath and breast
as she soothed the scars where the barcode used to be,
feathering nails at the nape of my neck
x
those scars and stretch marks id kiss better
x
as we'd both shudder, creak, and moan softly
x
under the weight of one another, never falling
x
and though I knew I'd bury her,
I cherished this more than the varnish and cherry wood
And inscriptions on granite ever could.

I still do. I still carry you,
wrapt around my mind as we d often be heaving, closed-eyed smiles,
trailing long ashed cigarettes
dangling one, if a thousand tastes
x
of what it meant to love you.