how far can you spit a
cherry pit?

when i say i'm falling
for you i mean i
want to lean up against
you like an umbrella by
the door--
open me inside when 
it rains & the ceilings 
leak with thunder.
i'll catch
the pits from these peaches 
& plums & nectarines
before they hail on our heads--
their clamor 
drops like marbles 
on the kitchen floor
& i'll laugh when the
trees start to take
root-- snap tiles-- churn
carpet & all the water 
trickles down the back steps

when i say i'm
falling for you 
i mean 
i want to spit cherries pits 
with you from the back steps.
i mean 
take a handful of 
these little stone fruits
with me & i'll tell you about
how my skin tastes--
i bleed bruises
from in between my own teeth &
i learned to keep cherries
in my pockets in case 
i ever want to 
promise something--

we take turns aiming at
the tops of the trees
but we have to be careful
not to knock down a star
from the mantle--

plant your stones
with your thumb 
nudged into the dirt 
out behind
the house & if a star
should break on
the kitchen floor
pick up all the pieces 
even the bruised ones--

i want to promise
you these pits
are going to become trees
& that we'll come to know
each other when they bloom
in april--
catch flowers on
our tongues & watch them
melt 

& in july when the cherries
are fat i want to 
tell you we'll pick 
them & fix cherries in the 
sky like tea lights--

spend the night
spitting rocks & witnessing
some take root
even in the black dirt 
around the moon--

how far can you spit a
cherry pit? 
i want mine to land in
one of those galaxies
that looks like
a bruise or a spilled 
bowl of blueberries
that got stepped on--

& i want to promise you
that our thumbs & our
mouths are capable
of planting trees--
that we are the ones
who built their limbs out
of cherry pit vows
spit into the dirt
of moons--

when i say i'm falling
for you i mean my pockets 
are full of stones--
my mouth is red from
wanting to kiss you--
all flowers have melted 
on my tongue 
& i want to be your
umbrella by the door--
your fist around a star--
your cherry pit 
snapping open into 
the weak green neck of a tree