You raked the surface of your lips with teeth,
a wintertime lawn of leaves.
At sunrise, a dewy surface
of indifference.
A benign offering
of kisses served cold,
the tinkling of an unwanted toast.
Proper gratitude
for your tidy tepidness;
I was humble like that.
In the evenings, you pounded fleshy lips,
meat tenderizers,
squashing and kneading.
your pulpy, red cushions
beaten bright, forced
kisses served hot.
A match to our inferno,
between handfuls of hair
you singe me again;
I was a sucker for that.
© khartless 2021, All Rights Reserved
Artwork: “Blushing Pilgrims” Jitske Schols
Yard Sale of Thoughts 
wow ! pretty powerful imagery; the first stanza took a while to set alight for me, but the second struck with WOW! force!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, John. Cheers!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh! I love the contrast between the two stanzas. Tidy tepidness pounded with fleshy lips. WOW is right!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, kindly. To me, a person’s lips can often express more than what is said.
LikeLike
Powerful, raw, sensual, and beautiful written, K.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Jeff. 😊She’s from last winter, but that same wintertime lawn with leaves caught my eye today, and I thought to repost her.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome, K. Always. Ah, I see, well, I’m glad you did. ☺️
LikeLike
a thermometer of words.
LikeLike
you gotta love the images: you excel at that — lips ‘meat tenderizers’, ‘pulpy red cushions’ , ”inferno … you singe me again’ —
LikeLiked by 1 person
Why thank you, John. Kinda miss the expression of my student’s lips. So much easy to read their emotions without the masks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
indeed; lips say so much 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I imagine if the current situation persists we’re all be making egregious facial expressions behind our masks and when we finally de-mask we’ll have to work on toning them down.
LikeLike
hahaha; that’s very clever
LikeLiked by 1 person