originally published 2010
You yes you stain me
Deeply
Like tomato sauce on the good china plates
Like red Georgia clay under fingernails from summer sun work
You yes you stain me
Deeply
Like chocolate ice cream on crisp white Sunday dresses
Like smoke that wafts through the room catching on hair locks
You, yes, you stain me
Deeply
Like black soil green grass on jeans knees into home plates
Like coffee cup rings on coffee tables over coffee laughter
You, yes you, stain me
Deeply
Like sharp white lightening cutting through the bleeding gray sky
Like soot laden thread pulled by bone needle through skin
Tattooing flesh with ancient beating ink
You, yes you, yes you, stain me
Deeply
And I don’t want to wash you away.
