live like a matchbook
true love, real love
insensible passion
flame to flame
and kiss to kiss
the heat that flickers
tongue to tongue.

to sing with
the beat of a heart
             of a moment
the tick of the clock
             of a bomb
the sibilant hiss
             of the fuse
ignite, explode
             (vanish)

to set a moment on fire
and to strike a match into dust.
my footprints are
red lines
of blood & sulfur.

to blush with the burn
of the passing bullet
kisses from lipsticked barrels
to gunpowdered cheeks.

blossom of fire
and tendril of smoke
climbs like ivy
from lip to crumbling lip.

the smolder of
a glance
a glare
to glow and to glower
freeze & flicker
the match and its tinder.

to reel at a blow
of sudden entropy
and devour the world
like oxygen
to lick at bitter traces
tongue against the glass
hunt the smell of vinegar
in lonely wine bottles.

love like a matchbook
true love, fast love
all dissolved
into an ashtray romance.