sundrops

Arianna Kanji

the sweet summer sun collects on the rim of my mouth and vanishes from view / there are flickering stars in the night skies of pooling eyelids / something small on the horizon with beaded cheeks and crinkled smiles / the river collects itself near the bend of your elbow / until the rays lick it clean, like a gust of wind / the tulips are blown in the direction of the lightly fawning flames / with a saddened cough the sunset slips back / into the curved shell of our world’s hollow warmth

the day old candies pop in the hollow of your spun-wheat cheek / breaking bitter on crumpled wrappers / the honey slides across the sky, the shimmering gold of dewdrops / we mistake beauty for greatness / curl your half-moon beam smile so it admires the straight-backed line of the skeleton’s spine / burning the forest for its light in mid-july / until the sweet summer sun slips behind a screen of smoke / bury lungs like paper / adrenaline hides the sensation of scorching cement