Wrote this poem in '05

I've got my quibbles with it, but there's also aspects I like ...


This Is Between Us

I.

I will keep this secret:

Coming home
from wine country
you detoured,
exited at Gilman,
climbed your tires
up the slope,
holding my hand,
stroking my fingers.

We had dissonance.
You wanted resolution.
I wasn't speaking.

You found my nape
where hair and scalp join.
I wanted to keep the anger
but it was lost
to your open roof.

II.

I will not discuss:

How we came
to the playground
on Euclid,
in the hills,
and I swung,
leaning backward
to confront the sky,
my feet pointed
in the direction
we all want
to go in the end.

I took the slide
too fast
and tore
sensitive skin
on my hand.

A tunnel took us
to the street's other sight:
The Berkeley Rose Garden.
It was unlocked.
They know, I told you.
Berkeley knows.

III.

This is between us:

How you held my hand
walking past petals,
how you kissed
my bleeding finger
and how the wound
came together
within hours.

I won't use the word magic.

Your face
bent to mine
once, then again,
and no one
needs to know.