copper

you stand in the doorway braver than brass & o! that electrowinning

smile    I see your one s-orbital electron hover its halo over your head

& grant you entry to ‘Home’    I believe we talk {mirabile dictu} &

suddenly just cannot breathe    my respiratory enzyme complex expires

& even your antimicrobial grace is not angel enough for my needs    you

sit me down & put your face unto mine    regard me with your azurite

eyes as you kiss all my fright & jump-start my Neolithic heart    I think

I say ‘love’ or ‘oligodynamic’ & ‘thank you for being so almost true’    

it is sometime in August    it is late afternoon & you are my Girls’ Own

Mining Boom    I say ‘look how the future beckons & swoons as the

sun traverses your brow’    aes Cyprium    let the myth begin    I have

already written my vows

Jordie Albiston has published 11 collections of poetry and a handbook on poetic form. Her forthcoming title, element: the atomic weight & radius of love, is due out later this year.