And by now it has almost lost its scent—
your scent, as
when you were here and turned
towards the wall while I pressed my body
into your body and sighed, “You smell like candy”
into your t-shirted back. Yes, the smell is yours
the shirt warmed by your lean torso, tufted
and delicious. I’ve washed my clothes in your soap,
but that wasn’t it—there must be something sweet your pores
pour forth. In three days you will be here and we will drink
from and with each other, sleep in close quarters,
naked, awake to heat and singing cells and slickness. But
now,
too tired even to
please myself, I breathe the shirt that covers
my pillow and dream—our yes
and yes and yes opening and opening—
Published in The Best American Poetry 2013 (Scribner, 2013)
Originally published in Vitrine:a printed museum
