My Best Face

Make Up

You said we shouldn't have
to work at a relationship,
what doesn't come naturally
isn't meant to be.
You have always been an idiot.

I chucked my dark overcoat
of woven expectation
back in my stuffy closet,
before it suffocated you.
It still waits for our winter.

I dabbed highlights on
your broad, flat cheeks,
as you blushed me pinker
than the points of desire.

You chose the unexpected,
currents deeper than I’d risk alone,
I sieved my essence through
your experience to find
a frame for my best face.
Held you with my hooked words
when I seem to let you go.

I paint fresh-skinned faces,
on me as I fade away,
each new impression,
of who I am right now,
where we might touch today.

We breathe in our dropped dust
and fresh sweat breaking,
I try not to entomb you
but entwine with lime and garlic,
fusion, frisson, something still,
you say how easy it's all been -
smear your composed skin on mine -
put our best face forwards.