I like dirt gritty and uneven beneath

my hands; knees wearing

the shapes of ancient rock beds

the risks of forest floors

with their hidden sharpnesses.

 

Give me the grasp you don’t

know is too tight; hips forward

head back in deepest roar –

your strength the tie that binds us.

 

I want the aching dust to burst;

bead into our sweat, smashing

like atoms where we clash.

 

A cave, an open dirty expanse,

desert flat, untamed garden;

a hot sun scalding me

where your shadow does not fall.

 

Mouths open to dropped water

from the sky, catching the calm

to renew the rough;

beasts beside a moody sea.

 

I know myself best as the animal

slurping brute power and the

rush of pleasure’s brand of nothing;

 

let my softness make you stronger

and take me down into the blackness

we all came from.