The magamized clouds flush in the horizon over nearby Hawaii

Bubbling in my cheeks

Spilling into the corners of my collarbones

Down into my rib cavity

The hues are adjacent to her favorite color red

Genomes opposite, her eyes sage green

Glossy unlike the slits inside a palm trees leaf

The price for this view should be valued more than the cost of first class tickets

The voyage should be a hike with an experienced tour guide who’s memorized the dips up this lava rock

The pitfalls if you rush over as its crumbling 

Welted lava could pop any second now

I could see you any second now

The air slows, now plutonic as I run into her 

My voice clings to the walls of my mouth

Jagged rock in my throat

I wish I could sound out how beautiful you are

 

I wish I knew if anyone has ever told you

Ever told you the way you are is just right

Ever told you your braids are the color of sunshine on a lazy spring afternoon

Ever told you the rasp in your voice trickles, fluttering in my ears

Ever told you your quick-witted sense of humor stuns me more than Moana Loa stuns tourists when it rumbles in Hawaii

I wish the tremors in my voice would let me say this to you

 

You’d think I stumbled over the tectonic plates

The roof of my mouth a mantle ready to ooze

If I flowed into you I promise I wouldn’t singe your skin leaving scars

Molten ash wouldn’t roll to cloud every single one of your days

Has anyone ever told you it’s bizarre nothing has swept you off your feet

This cataclysmic eruption would burst so there wouldn’t be ground to stand on

The boom would pulse past you over this mainland

Underwater volcanoes only sizzle as often as we brush glances

Dormant volcanoes would only wish to be heard

Only wish to be heard by you

 

Have I ever told you that I don’t mean to be silent around you

Every word I want to say igneous-izes in my chest

I don’t mean for this to happen

It’s just the natural process 

I don’t mean to harden

I wish I didn’t. I wish you knew this. I wish I could say this to you.