mammalogy 

we sat together as you filled in the name of every bone.
skeleton pictures laid out across your dorm room floor.
weeks ago i lied to my parents to stay with you in new york.
city of skulls & lost irises. out your window, rain fell
& in the morning i walked alone up & down
the streets of hells kitchen. i pretended to be working
on my own school work but i was busy imagining a life together
in which i would lay out & you would point
to every muscle & bone. you would name me. 
i knew i wasn't going to love you as long as i wanted.
my body came apart in my hands. i begged for you 
too often. sitting in the college's sculpture garden
outside of your dorm. then, the snow. slept all day.
blood & warmth. the smell of your sweet musty room.
four chambered hearts. each chamber a storage room.
body of a whale. body of a red panda. you said,
"i can never remember it all." all the creatures 
sprawled out on the floor. little blanks 
over all of their strcutures. i told you, "one word
at a time. one skeleton at a time." when i left 
your apartment in the city i knew i would
never be back. drinking coffee from a silver mug.
looking out the shop window at all the teeth
on their way to work. you can love someone so briefly.
point to bones with them. fibula. pelvis.
claw. jaw. tell them how badly you have wanted
to jump from rooves. weep with them. 
walk in the snow. & then sometimes you are 
both gone. new mammals. leaving the old ones
in love notes & windows. i held up a diagram of an elephant. 
it was one you had completed. you pointed & said, 
"i want to tell you about this one when we're done."