sweet metal sweet

it’s one of those nights filled with love. or is it desire. the cusp. hong kong
orchids growing from tree bark towards fireflies. lights blinking inside. almost
complete. breathing. singing. sinking. treeing. reaching towards flint hills in
kansas. desire for what i don’t know. desire for something i don’t know. desire
for the beauty of things to end, and something else to blink. something else to
sway like paper bougainvillea. not quite red, and already gone. spring gone that
fast. bottlebrush fallen. tecate can riddled with fingerprints, in the middle of the
street like a burnt firework. everything i felt when I first arrived gone. different
sulfur rising from a bucket of water. hotter than beach glass. singed and shining.

Emmy Pérez
An audio recording of this poem first appeared on i-outlaw (2.5).