[heart's the bitter buffalo]

we are rinsing kisses from memory
washing down broken glass with lemon and
the screaming in our throats is
the beginning of new words

we tried to be what we could for each other,
warm hands and arms for
the nights we felt too sick
from the loneliness of cold sheets

because isn't it true that humans
just use each other, breaking backs
and banks with the strain of sex and lies
we pretend we don't notice the hegemony

reticent in every glance upward,
every whispered song lyric;
like pythons hypnotized by reed flutes
we follow our hearts off cliffs