ink hand

your favourite things
are listed on paper
in colourful marker pen
smudged by your hand
then smeared on your forehead
then kissed by my lips
which then bit into an orange
and spat out its peel
into my hand
dripping spit down through
those fingers too eager to care
and too old to respond.

if anything my experience has taught me
is timeliness and cleanliness
are two things i will have to
learn to forget as i age
and then remember again
and blame my demands

on my life-time.

as a keeper of objects
i keep you and your pens and your smudges and forehead
and i'll guard it with life and my death if i have
to confess that it's
less likely than anything that i'll ever lose these possessions,
i promise.

as a keeper of time,
i anticipate its passage to scar me forever.
i look forward to it, impatiently
biting the skin around my nails
so it frays more and feels like
something is
growing up.