Introduction

We sleep in the basement on Delancey St
After hanging up our clothes
You whisper, “do fake CPR on me”
But I cannot find your pulse

We pull out the sofa and warm up some Chinese
While our sneakers are in the dryer
We twist and turn all night and tie knots in the sheets
Losing circulation in our thighs

Watch moths cluster around the light bulbs
Til the power goes off at 3am
Pass time counting up your freckles
I lose track and start again

In the morning we don’t know what time it is
Collect last week’s newspaper from the porch
Go up to the room where I used to live
Peel some old punk stickers off the headboard

And then you are behind me with a towel around your waist
And someone else’s breath mints in your mouth
You say you’ve found a birthmark in an unfamiliar place
I say “get dressed, I’ll show you around the house”

O, this is the ceiling where my sister scrawled her poetry
O, this is the living room where Christmas always used to be
O, this is the mattress where I lost my virginity
O, this is the house where I was raised

I can see my mother’s lipstick on your coffee cup
And I know where my father keeps his cigarettes
The windows above the sink are frozen shut
You write our names backwards in the translucence

Big t-shirts worn backwards with the tag scratching your neck
Says something about a bad sports team in blue and black
Cold bare feet on tiled floors kicking roach motels along
Whatever you’re humming is my favorite song