fox skin

the heat is rolling in like a bad omen
and i will be waiting on the doorstep
with my arms open wide as if for the rain
one day you will come home and i will
fit you into my palms like you were built
to cradle between my lifelines and crooked thumbs
to tuck into the folds of my too-tight skin,

like your lungs held air
even when i wasn't breathing into them.

summer means three things:
 i. my fingers tangle like headphones in your pocket and i drop letters and don't care
 ii. i would hook my hands into my neck with fishhook fingers if i could pull you out of me
 iii. i choke on my own tongue trying to summon the words that will summon you.


you drag behind me like a shadow, nestle under my tongue like a scab,
i would pull-pop every muscle in my mouth and spit you out like blood
if i weren't so busy nursing day-old water
and waiting for your lips
remembered on my neck
to pass over me:

i am waiting for you to die in my heart, where it matters most
call me your coffin
as long as you do not actually
call me