scarlet

They don’t have snap peas,
so we substitute
green beans in our recipe
for an evening together.

Whole cherries and
peach-pineapple baby food
line the conveyor belt
in a row desolate of cashiers.

Swipe, swipe, accumulating debt
dawdling out the door to
our picnic in the parking lot

There are no secrets
but these are
midnight moments
stolen from significant others.

Restraint means tonight is not a
physical affair
many days have been
crossed off calendars since that,
but still this feels scarlet.

My cherry stained hand
is now a heart shaped stigmata
where you pressed flesh to flesh
that deep red fruit to my skin.