oil-spill slick skin ripples

as the earth shatters

into thousands of mirror shards

with the force of a great giant

or a jolt of electric current 

running through shallow waters.

this is how to forget.

hands on broad shoulders,

tense as the pieces of a once-whole earth

reflect moonlight,

blinding,

into his irises. 

and he feels translucent. 

in this night, he finds

guttural and soft are not quite opposites

electricity can run through bodies without the sting of pain

and warm fingerprints can heal many wounds.

his, he thought, 

were too deep to turn to scars.

and so he learned to forget.

but the effortless synchronicity of bodies,

the mesmerizing back and forth, 

it does not afford forgetting.

this, he knows.

this, he remembers.