LESLEY
JENIKE
Kismet
We were meant to meet at
the Desert’s Martini
Rock,
that holy of holies, that colossus. The sun burnt our backs
as we turned toward Baghdad. Babylon’s swinging
paradise waved goodbye. You called light light.
You named the lamp, said my love is a lion-share.
I aped you. No rib was so talkative. You said,
Be quiet and listen. Honey’s being made.
So I sat down with a good book, oldest story
there is: cities burning. Masts of salt sail the Sinai
away. It’s fate. I thought I had a witness
but
I’m all there is. We stopped by the Sahara Club,
cocktail before Genesis. When I fall down
drunk, when I seize, stop me from swallowing . .
.
Promise me we’ll meet here, say Valentine’s
of each year. Each year we’ll drag in, an unplucked
splinter in your eye. A jet will buzz over. I might
hold you but Baghdad’s so hot that time of year.
I would rename the chasm. I would rename the thrush,
but kismet tucks its fingers in my mouth. One dead root
caused this. One sweet too many kills. Tear it out.
I’ll suck gas, won’t feel a thing. Sleep, sleep, there, there.
You’ll tell me to groove out to the soft
rock, creation-
lite, easy-listening, barely breathing. Across the abandon
brush catches fire. Witness. It’s your voice I hear. 
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