Marshmallow in the Microwave

Water molecules cause the inflation–
how the heart expands several times
in the span of too-few seconds.

The depths of my sweetness,
you call suffocating– the airbag
after collision. A time bomb–

we promised to open the door
before making a mess,
but we kept growing inside

ourselves. Body inside body,
slow spinning made us dizzy.

We were fine before. Small,
we never knew the depths
of our grandness.

Even then, we were sugar.
We opened our mouths
and licked hot the walls.

In the process of swelling,
we long to burst, to stick
to a heart that holds

the excess.

(originally published in Umbrella Factory, Fall 2018)

Like a Box of Chocolates

Did you know what you were going to get, strolling
through the supermarket handpicking chocolates,

deciding between pecan bon bons, truffles,
and white chocolate shells filled with fudge?

We did not yet know the salt of incandescence,
your caramel smile on the roof of my mouth,

blind with each other’s taste, the lavender
some sickly rose blooming.

We melted together in the sun not worrying
about how our distinct tastes would smelt and swirl

around in our greedy mouths how our tongues flicked
and explored until we were almost satisfied but

every good thing melts the way autumn crumples
at the peak of its most swirling sweetness.

 

(originally published in bluepepper, 2016)