On Living

bone, blood, limbs, fingers
scar tissue & musculature

the olfactory, the tactile
all the ways we hand ourselves over, piecemeal 

words that stick, ones that roll off 
how her fire finds something inside you & lights it

stories we’ve been told & those we believe
victim, villain, hero, human 

fears jammed into jars & stacked tall
memories like crushed glass 

deeply worn grooves that take us around
aching, longing, blissful, sated

how her hair falls over you, 
breath on your neck

©BARB REYNOLDS