WHEN IN FACT THERE IS NOTHING LIKE THE RUB OF THE GHOST AT MIDNIGHT & Water

WHEN IN FACT THERE IS NOTHING LIKE THE RUB OF THE GHOST AT MIDNIGHT

I am threatened

at once by fog

desire & feel

have never

done anything

to a ghost

the modesty of

mybeing & immodesty

of mychoices

have never

done anything

to a ghost

not that I forget

that I remember

only flattery

have never

worried

there is no disciple

have not accosted

your little smile

that baby seed

of petulance

enveloped as it is

in the silk

your stomach

your intestines

& interest

yes you too

are a velvetpink

valuable & not

sofar from

the surface

of the skin

the cutis yes

largest organ

thatmuch is true

               I can be

but often amnot

of the living

I drag & insist

I am ________

incapable of ________

please dontyoucover

I am only a mirror

of one dimension

however you

or the two of you

are gen tle

in reac tion

of bod y

to outer stim ulant

meaning skin thin ner

meaning thi ck skin

meaning yo u

are much more

a body than I

a bodythan I anticipated

Water

after I spill my guts to you

as if

when into the wind

your breath

comes back

as foreign

/ here again

little boy afraid

of anything / anywhere

pissing the bed

at kitchen noise

same boy

& whether

you know it or not

you love as he is / root of man

you know

who leaps from bedside

prowls nude / aroused

about the night house

ready to pounce

whatever whisper awakens

you / the man

barely humming

above a fifth /

the man

too scared to change

the lightbulb

here is a glass of water

here is a towel

Jon Conley is a writer and musician from Cleveland. He is cofounder of Long Long Journal. Find him @jonnnnnnnnnnmmm