I Remember

I REMEMBER

Do you remember

How my knuckles felt

Stretched and flat beneath your fingertips,

The first time we bent the form 

Of a palm to palm entwinement 

To an embrace more intimate than planned?

Remember how it felt to first hold your hand?

Do you remember

How my skin felt

When I held my breath-

Conscious of your shaky attempt at precision

As you pinned a white flower

To the low neck of my dress?

The blossom bit my bosom with a pin-prick

Though pinched I insisted I remain entranced

And the prodding pressure was worth it,

Because you asked me to dance.

Do you remember

How cold my naked arms felt

When you handed me your sweatshirt,

The one that always smells like exhaustion and yogurt?

I said I hadn’t planned to need you

That I was scared and slow to embrace honesty.

So you clung close, and called me a necessity.

Do you remember

How my hair fel

tOn the worn fabric of your lap?

Remember how my eyeliner soaked your denim

and how dark and sanguine, it streaked your knee?

I waited to find someone who cared enough to hear

Then I told you all my sins and secrets,

I explained every scar and every lie.

You drank my bloodstained past like wine,

And then you told me not to cry.

Do you remember 

How you felt the first time

You said you loved me?

Those three words

The ones-like petals- you bestowed

Are all that this pin-pricked chest,

This blushing belle in her bloodstained best

This stream of eyeliner on a fair-toned face

 With these scars and these secrets,

With these knuckles and these fingertips

Has ever needed.