nighttime on Carruthers Place
and all the monkeys in the Memphis Zoo
are sleeping
save me and you

hazy and cumdrunk
I return with the towel
arrange it
carefully upon your body
lamp lit and beautiful
sopping up a sacrifice
I have spilled at your temple

you tilt your head against the pillow
and say

I think we should do it.

a circuit in my heart shorts
caught in an excited pause

then casting a cloth of 200 million
dead possibilities behind me
I feign ignorance
and say

do what?

the shape of your smile lifts
announcing itself as
the prettiest curve on your body

you know what.

you insist,
without hesitation.

we’ve been chasing rainbows all year
I think it’s time.
I’m ready.

a train whistle blows
some distant intersection

like a cartoon I picture it
the devil in red and white
waiting for us to surrender
our souls to him