Inside Joke Poem by Charles Malcolm

On those rare days
that I woke up before you
I would watch you sleep.
Your breasts
rising and falling
rising and falling
as you blew hot breath
through crooked, coffee-stained teeth
that would squeak
as you ground them.
I would brush wayward strands of hair
kissing
your forehead
your nose
your lips
your chin.

You grinned and groaned an alien moan.
I would never forget
your face.

Eight years later
a complete stranger smiled
at me
inside an elevator.

My friends told me
that it
was
you.


We would have loved
that.