in a tangle of sky--

we broke off in bird wings
caught in a tangle of sky--
the clouds cough feathers
into our lungs--
breathe & descend--
the fibers 
sticky in our mouths--
i have never forgotten
a moment of the summer &
i love the lightning storms
in Pennsylvania 
so much that it hurts--
a part of me most close to 
my spine was struck there--
i sleep in a dream of fireflies--
listen for 
when the they'll snap their 
backs open in a glimpse of light--
they'll make flutes from
our hollow bones when we
finally fall-- we are
the birds who 
dart between the trees--
we are the porch people & the 
lightning rod bodies
who channel our acid-blood
origins--
crack my veins again
in lightning--
feel a body erase in thunder 
rapture--
your tongue was a mallet
to thrum on the 
tympani set somewhere beyond
the sky-- you felt
the toads emerge again
from the soil to eat headlights--
this is road we die on--
double yellow lines
distorted into bolts 
through a cloud--
you felt the grass drink 
with its legs--
you felt my body turn slick
in the down pour--
we drank each other from
the puddles-- kaleidoscope
colored from gasoline--
the best place to 
watch a storm
is from the left bay of the garage 
full of warped bike tires
& lawn mower mouths--
we are the type of bodies
to run out into a storm--
rush rush in the whirl
of water-- the ocean makes 
a home in the puddles &
we swim-sky-bird--
i'll be the first to 
be struck by electricity 
because i've been 
tempting god longer than you--
so when the water stops
falling i'll walk with you
up the street to the park
where the trees make the rain keep
going-- our father will push
us on the tall tall swings 
until we take flight again--
only to singe feather & bone--
i have lightening for
veins & thunder caught
under my tongue--
this is all i have left to
speak--