Boy

It's not I don't like you, boy,
It's just I've no use for you -
You give me no heat.
You don't burn me up
Like a midsummer rainforest
Like a hot, sweaty fever,
Breaking me up like static.

It's not I don't love you, boy,
It's just I don't need you -
You don't make me ache.

Daddy, when you bought that bed for me,
Did it cross your mind to wonder
Who I'd bring home?
The girl sleeping in my bed
Has her fingers curled to her sleeping mouth.
She isn't me,
This girl, I can smell her on my skin.

It's not I don't have time for you, boy,
You know time better than I do -
But I measure time in heartbeats,
And you don't make my heart beat,
Like this girl who followed me home.


April 15, 1997
© Lela Kaunitz