sweeping the deck


leaves the color
of hickeys
float down from the trees
and lie upon my deck
make me remember
your neck beneath my mouth
that one time in bed
how in the unchecked
throbbing
of a hot afternoon
we glowed red
against the womb of that motel

but then the check was paid
things left unsaid

and then the sped retreat

now
at my feet
a gecko slithers
trembling
through the leaves

i grab a broom
and sweep

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image & text © sass

time travel / midsummer madness / an ordinary woman / snake / infernal youth / air / ifs & but / heaven-sent / postcard from the ledge / cartwheels / thoughts after an accident / fall / drugstore poem / sweeping the deck / self, indulging / sterling sylvia / cultivated silence / phoenix - survivor poems / poem index