Dissolve Into Fire

                             i.

W     atching you pearling out, I wonder,
     how do you like being
a gem on a strand of lovers? Now,
tying up fraying threads,

extending a life-line with no strings
attached, loosening ends,
there were a lot of flash bulbs and a
lot of darkness, mourners

envious of ashes earn their urn
burning through our candids,
the fonder the memory, oh, the
deeper the ache, blame it

on the poor lighting, take it out on
the outtake, Polaroid

                             ii.

princes practicing politics’ black
arts, we denied hearts our
better selves, tried to blind the Cyclops
of Fate, eclipsed by our

own poor optics, foregoing foresight,
forewent sore Truth for worse
Consequences, both enticed the ghost
of the ousted Other,

invited The One some call Else or
Unless, since there never
was any Because or Enough, yet
decided to become

narcotized by Someone, by the “Love™”
that kept the parliament

                             iii.

of my consciousness divided, a
permanent riot my
first sight of you incited, the deep
resonance of your ask,

and your get, and your absence, it’s been,
it’s gone, we don’t write our
history backwards, no, not when we’ve
seen it through and being seen

under the microscope but far from
the spotlight evokes need,
luxuriating in fictional
affection, pretentious

yet passive, that black attitude just
avalanches ashes

                             past us.