By Cedric Tillman

I am

missing you a bit,

More than I thought,

and more than I should.

But your spirit hovers over me.

Impish.

You must stop playing with my halo.

I should stop letting you.

Shoo, gone now.

You know me well.

It was the melanin, I’m afraid

It was watery,

It leaked all over you.

No mixing, no adulterating.

Grain alcohol blackness

saturated even the tangled,

sovereign curls

you idly twisted in daydreams

It simmered on your cheeks,

a veiled emotion.

It seeped onto your breasts,

where it burst at their conclusions.

It dove into your lips, where...

Those lips.

Your lips were grey.

They were like black after pink lost out.

They were softly corrugated and nice.

Your tongue was neon

against night’s background

It was easy to see between teeth.

You were better for shadow

like poems for solitude

The bad lighting to finish good novels to,

There were secrets in your stare

that made it worth the strain to see you

I could you make you out

in basements with no light.

I could feel for the warmth

that had blown out the bulbs,

and follow the heat of an urge

that could rip out a pull string

Or you would usher me down,

slowly

compelling exploration

until I could not stay

the night.

Cedric Tillman received a BA in English from UNC Charlotte and an MFA in Creative Writing from American University. He lives in Charlotte.

Contact: Cedric Tillman * Email: juggsmurf@yahoo.com