my boyfriend & i watched the lawn grow 

they put planks in Xs across
the windows of the corner house.
we stood on the curb
across the street to stare at the emptied structure.
greenish mold grew on the siding.
we paused each day in hopes
one of us might think of a question to ask each other.
in high school, after you've dated someone
more than 6 months there's not much
else to say. we paced his neighborhood
& kissed & kissed & kissed. 
first the lawn grew scraggled like the day 
you decide you need a haircut 
& i insisted on standing closer
so that i could lean down & touch it.
prickly color. green texture. 
i wanted to lay down in it with him
despite the buzz & the thrum of the insects
surely hiding between blades.
next time the grass had swelled as high 
as our hips as if it were 
a great viridian pond. 
we could wade in & take off our clothes,
watch the grass swallow my dress
& his shorts as we crouched down
dipped our heads under.
maybe we would turn green then
& instantly have wild hair
to fingers through. i said noting
as we watched the wind make ripples
in the lawn. he wondered if they were
ever going to come & cut it again.
his voice sounded worried 
as if he knew how much i wanted 
the lawn to burst, to spread.
in real life, the next time we passed
the lawn was trimmed down again
but in this version i'm writing
grass took the sidewalk
grass tore out mailboxes.
grass poured into the cul-de-sac.
we tread water in grass
& grass wraps itself around our bodies.
the grass turns soft 
almost like fingers & it coaxes 
everything out of us. 
i tell him i don't believe in god 
even though i've always pretended to for him.
he tells me dreams of my body
wrapped in plastic in a box like a doll
he dreams of me sleeping inside 
a crock pot waiting for him
i imagine him building a house for us 
where we both have separate rooms.
i see him picking apricots
& hurling their pits at my forehead
all the while the grass pulls us down deeps 
& the ants frolic between stalks 
& the grass is a forest & 
the house with the boarded up windows
is the one we will share.