summer small nights
will still be bit by bit
for a little while longer
not black but a
choked gray night
smokespread still
lit with stars & wildfire

rays bounce & shimmer
back to us with such
smothering heatwaves

he wavers between
me & a wide window
i strike an incorrigible
tongue seek mischief
toss good intentions
into the arms of fresh
& inevitable morning

shrunk pupils in hazel
irises yawn wide &
embrace electric spark
brushfires he spreads up
the mountainsides of me

fingertip test those taut
ropes bundled beneath
the tan sweatscented
skin of his broad back

too tired from our
earlier tugs of war
he sprawls a laid
claim on these bed
& body territories

so i roll & scribble
silent in a rogue
streetlamp beam
through blind slats
my moment's mood

'til i can no longer
shrug off a lone
limb's snake over
my perched shoulder

it slips & sidewinds
catching me in his coils
with soft hiss laughter