Frequents:

We leave the bucket hats by the break in the dunes and dash to the clubhouse,

kicking up sand in little flourishes of joy.

Sprint past the gate guards with a

“hey how you’re doing” –

they’re playing Monopoly and barely look up.

Look at each other - burst out laughing –

these are the moments; this is the thrill.

Behind the paddle tennis courts:

thorns and ivy, blue eyes, you.

Dancing around the lighthouse at sunset,

I always feel I’m being emptied of time.

This is happening now so in some way—

it will happen forever.

Winter comes, brings quicksilver questions.

My secrets drip from your lips,

hands clasp your face, we both cry.

Why do you need validation from me?

I FaceTime you every day,

talk for hours, rants and complaints.

I bring you my friends and meet in cafes with dusty windows and when the busboy says we look good together I laugh and you glance away.

Let’s go to the city for the weekend…

we have nothing better to do

I run down my list of useless excuses to see you.

Add ten minutes because I know it will take you forever to decide on a gelato place, and when I say “he’ll have a biscotti” you quietly nod.

Was that what you were going to say anyway?

I don’t know.

I sell my Firefly Music Festival ticket online.

You date my friends because

I want you to,

and we never talk about it.

I’m sorry I lost the bucket hat in South Carolina. I never noticed it was gone.                 

What are we?

This isn't love, not friends, not strangers

we know things,

we crave each other,

I always return to you.

You have mastered that art

of frequenting my thoughts.