No 2: WHITE SHEETS

PHOTO PROVIDED BY CATE CHRISTIANSEN

CATE CHRISTIANSEN

Every time I lay in your bed, I face the wall

Refusing to look at you because I’m scared 

What will happen when I do 

The morning light sits on my chest

You at your desk, coughing up smoke

Your round knees hug the mattress 

I hide against the bathroom door

Grey air hugging my pink cheeks

Your T Shirt hangs off my arms

Alternating 

We lay side by side, your eyes fixed on mine

I can’t look away from my hands 

Your toes find my ankle, we don’t speak

I can’t take the friction of our skin

Cold white sheets breathe between us

Your fingertips find my wrist.

Feeling how the bones connect

And how my inky skin sits on top

Frozen, I turn my eyes to you

But our eyes can’t find each other

Before I turn back towards the wall

I say something about the tattoo you touched

You stand up.