filling in the between

guerrilla heart-squeeze
      from unfair
      to rakish
advantage

the ball’s (always) in your court

and gold-flecked gratitude
      dribbles
my inadequacy
keeping
cardio-grammatical
      sentences
from spilling what
may really be forming

poised at
the edge of silence

draping smooth verbs
      in red
japanese-lantern-light
and obscuring with
      polysyllabic prestidigitation

tease like stocking –
      couched
in the almost-pleasure
of your

beautiful absence