Response to Kerouac

Roadmaps of Desire

A pain stabbed my heart, as it did every time

I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite

direction in this too-big world.

On the road

From old love to new

Making maps of desire

Fresh connection

Feels like fire

But it can't warm

Like the well known

The mouths moulded

By one another  

Years spent drilling

Deeper

The countless kisses

Hello/goodnight

And the confidences

Canvassing our

Bodies like highways

But this novel lover

This new to me lover

With his straight smile

And his crooked gaze

I can hear his sternum

In each phrase

Resonance so rich

It coats my tongue

And those fingers

Upon the steering wheel

So patient

See, the others

They couldn’t run

With my fast mouth

They were poor matches

No wonder, then

That those flames fizzled out

With a cold burn…

Burn, burn

Now, all the love I need

Lies beneath these keys

And the other stuff comes easy

Like blood, like scars

Like me in spreader bars

And the thrill of

The way his

Flesh floats beneath

My fingers

As comfortably as ink

The way his

Voice dips and sinks

The way his

Lips browse longingly

Learning my landscape

The way this novel lover

This new to me lover

Counterpoints

The paths paved

By the precious

Lovers that live

Behind me and beyond me

And because I can’t

Bear to say goodbye

I say

Sure, baby

Manana…

And keep on rolling under the stars