Sway

By Jennah Kelley

                                                                               We charge ahead, tripping timid
                                                                               over tangle toes. For all
                                                                               our lonely talk and lying steps
                                                                               the only place our feet are sure
                                                                               to stay planted
                                                                               is betwixt our teeth.
                                                                               I'll touch you
                                                                               like I love you and choke
                                                                               all my implied assumptions
                                                                               in the morning.
                                                                               We all say don't mean
                                                                               use don't intend. 
                                                                               i to you
                                                                               and you to me, no more
                                                                               than what we are: stranger
                                                                               strangely entangled
                                                                               on dancing floors
                                                                               breathing intimacy
                                                                               not earned but bought
                                                                               with shots and tap.
                                                                               Tips sliding
                                                                               over flannel leaving
                                                                               a trace less than prints
                                                                               and meaning less to you
                                                                               than a tenth of your night
                                                                               as we graze and sway.
                                                                               You melt
                                                                               through my bones
                                                                               before I can decide
                                                                               if I want to keep you there.
                                                                               Didn't catch you,
                                                                               just a glimpse back
                                                                               just a thought for after.
                                                                               Just a second look
                                                                               is all I get
                                                                               before you
                                                                               sway
                                                                               away.

Jennah Kelley is currently enrolled at BSU in the creative and professional writing program and will graduate with a BFA. She has lived in Minnesota all her life, and it will forever influence her writing, as will her family, friends, pets and all who have endeared themselves to her nerdiness.