all these deadlines nagging at my brain
are self-imposed for the most part,
some things seem to work out better that way
except when it comes to you,
i can put words together sometimes
but i can’t seem to put myself together
where you’re concerned
all my flaws rise to the surface,
i ebb and i flow
you come in like the tide only less predictable
i drown in the blue on blue when you crash down around me
then you rush away dragging pieces of me with you
leaving me exposed and raw,
tender to the phantom touch
aching,
i keep it to myself and smile for the camera,
from a distance the picture is clear as a close-up,
yet i doubt myself more than i doubt you
my concerns whisper to me nightly
sounding silly and mundane to me,
without my permission
my words tumble out uncensored
giving you access to all that i am
although it’s unnecessary, for you always see right through me
it enters my mind that all these time constraints are mine alone,
there are no deadlines, no clocks ticking,
just you
just me
personal ports in a stormy existence
always there and never deviating from the pre-existing plan
set in motion long before the world began,
when i see that dashboard glow seep through your pores
bright enough to blind me and remind me,
i  toss those deadlines overboard, let them sink to the bottomless sea
for all i care,
time strings rubber-band like and we always come back to that place,
where nothing more than an accidental brush of your skin on mine
melts me like lava headed straight for you,
so we can both burn