This is a prayer. Our kiss hang in the air —

like clocks, it stops. Tickless. I have no more

ticks left to give. “By the curly shorthair,”

the kids say, “odds bodkins.” I still deplore

just how helpless I’ve become. It was not

love since I stood up and lovers lay down.

It was not sundown since I get distraught

at dusk and this was bright. Blood had caked brown

around my nostrils. Bruises filled the crook

of my arm. That cough. Easy as despair.

Easy as soap. “There are stains that baffle

soap.” That’s some crap soap, bub. Be suds that shook

the stain in the cat’s pajamas — this prayer:

it starts as a kiss, it ends as a yowl.