Slash and Burn, For justin quinn

Before you left I could have sworn

You snapped your calloused fingers

And burst to flame and ember

That rose through the thick air together

To bring on darkness once the ash turned cold.   

Instead of falling into rabbit holes

With no thought of consequence,

I should have painted my apartments

Where I’d have lived alone the same shade of yellow

And spent years watching sunflowers gaze eastward

And apple trees grow heavy in October’s chill

Outside my long French windows. 

But had I wasted all that time in caution,

I would have never seen you coming forth

In your state of disarray

To hand me a half smoked cigarette

And kiss my lips to stain them dark

And murmur your breathy promises

Into the hollow of my collarbone.