Braces
The glint on your braces as the sun caught
Them was not enough to make me frown
Gladly I’d sear my corneas to see that again
I didn’t even mind when my lips got caught
And when they did and they bled I’d break
The link quickly because
You never could handle blood
But to me it was life and iron
Warm to the taste like a dry Spanish red
But so much more intoxicating
Remember the library and the push against
The case and your mouth on mine?
I wasn’t expecting that
I cried stop then!
Shakespeare shouldn’t see these things
And I wish that I hadn’t
And we’d have given material for another play
Years on and I still hope to catch you in a library
And kiss you again on the hollow point
At the back of the jaw beneath the ear
And hear you sigh again
Not like the last sighs when you’d look
At my tears not with your own but with
The small smile of not caring anymore
And your braces were gone
But I still bleed
This is not a poem about battery acid or car keys.
