A woman and a man must ache
from a series of betrayals:
percussive love
from his body to hers
and then to others
a touch on the hand
like an empty blue sí
a touch on the jaw
like thunder with blood
looks from across the room
as dirty as plain English—
unwanted love letters
mailed without a scent of home
a kiss that isn’t
a kiss, but two
closed mouths
waiting for air
proud errors left open
and flying like urgent arrows,
migration, and an errant stitch;
a jungle of punishment
and then,
they will struggle
alongside their own people
against the same series of betrayals