surrendering at annihilation (with John Feddeler)

 

why does it have to be dirty?

sex was made to be beautiful
and for some, who have been lost
and rediscovered, I suppose it is.

was it the cheap whiskey that gave me a voice
when I saw your reflection in the backbar mirror
I could almost make out the tracks
descending from your black eyeliner.

your face, blushed & glossed;
a subtle, exact prettiness
in the cabaret’s sacrilegious
cathedral lighting.

we pull ourselves out of the muck
we bathe in a coriander stream
an apportioned amrita;
we emerge naked & needful.  so needful.

passion dies a strange & suspicious death
in a man who’s been alone a long time
but I knew, somehow I knew,
there was something in you that could heal me.

drag me through the epiphanies
drag me through the downlow
just drag me through…surrendering at annihilation

You looked at me with the quiet desperation
of a man who knows how
to break a woman’s heart
with cheap whiskey and cheaper words

I let you drown my sorrows
with the soft and empty lullabies
only a desperate woman
could stand to hear when
the night holds no hope of warmth
or love

And maybe you were exactly what I needed
when the streetlights flickered out
and left us to stumble through the
streets in the pre-dawn light

Your mouth hot and impatient
and you pushed me against a wall
outside the musty hotel room  
whispering fervent salvation against my skin

I shed myself without shame
needing to feel every part of you
pressed against me

…surrendering at annihilation



*Written for Katja's "erotic collaboration" competition - http://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/competitions/read/8650/