Slipping

(This is an old poem of mine, but my personal favorite.)

I’m letting you slip through my fingers again tonight
I stare into cerulean eyes only to find myself
Thinking of something else entirely, like palm trees
Or the taste of pineapple dissolving in my mouth
Then you blink, blue to cream to blue
Jolting me awake, my tongue dries in my mouth
Have you been speaking all this time?

I ponder the courses of my wandering heart
And in pondering, my mind once again leaves you
To linger on the shores of psychology
Embracing philosophy
Dancing in the sand with St. Augustine
We’re tracing footprints in the shallows only to see them
Washed away by the tide and swell of you
My feet are cramping, I curl them under myself
Have you been speaking all this time?

Navy knit sweater over the crest of shoulders
It moves with your breathing, a hypnotic pulse
Your breath catches mine and I fall
Plunging head first into Davy Jones’ locker
The quicksilver current carries me away
I am entranced by dolphin laughter
Ensnared in tangles of seaweed
I see a flash of sapphire in my periphery
And sink down, seeking the quiet
Lonely depths of the mid-Atlantic trench
Then, hooked and netted, thrown onto the beach
My lungs paralyzed, gaping wide like a flounder
The door slams, I’m alone on the couch
Have you been speaking all this time?