Christmas Party
by Jane DeLashmutt
I'm content with just watching you from across the room,
seeing you glow glittery and golden between men that are taller than you.
It's cold in the foyer,
and by the windows that are black with nighttime,
but you make the living room warm with bodies that all turn to eclipse you from me.
I want to get closer and closer to you until I am swallowed whole,
so my vision knows only your hair,
and my nose and mouth the crook of your neck,
where I inhale mixed perfumes of cinnamon and vanilla,
just sweet enough to know you applied them there only for me.
I hold your wrists and see blue veins beneath the skin there,
where the fragrances haven't evaporated quite yet.
You must have sprayed here first, or were they roll-on scents?
You can tell me; I've known all the secrets of our bodies - though never entirely all at once.
I wish I could compare you to a flower or something beautiful in nature,
but all I can think of is the pink vignette one creates when applying powdered blush.
My cheeks round out with a smile whenever I'm reminded this world has you in it.
Why can't you fall into this calamity with me?
Is the force pulling us together just a rope around my waist?
Has the same fever possessed you and left you shaking with wanting?
I didn't believe in soulmates until my chest felt the weight of your head against it,
until the hot breath from your nose forged a necklace pendant above my breastbone.
seeing you glow glittery and golden between men that are taller than you.
It's cold in the foyer,
and by the windows that are black with nighttime,
but you make the living room warm with bodies that all turn to eclipse you from me.
I want to get closer and closer to you until I am swallowed whole,
so my vision knows only your hair,
and my nose and mouth the crook of your neck,
where I inhale mixed perfumes of cinnamon and vanilla,
just sweet enough to know you applied them there only for me.
I hold your wrists and see blue veins beneath the skin there,
where the fragrances haven't evaporated quite yet.
You must have sprayed here first, or were they roll-on scents?
You can tell me; I've known all the secrets of our bodies - though never entirely all at once.
I wish I could compare you to a flower or something beautiful in nature,
but all I can think of is the pink vignette one creates when applying powdered blush.
My cheeks round out with a smile whenever I'm reminded this world has you in it.
Why can't you fall into this calamity with me?
Is the force pulling us together just a rope around my waist?
Has the same fever possessed you and left you shaking with wanting?
I didn't believe in soulmates until my chest felt the weight of your head against it,
until the hot breath from your nose forged a necklace pendant above my breastbone.
header image by Marko Milivojevic on PIXNIO