Little Surgery

*Little Surgery*

When this city became a sequence

of names, paper based

memories filling the air with that

typical oxygenless odor

family decay bending stalks

thick as trees, names listed on both

sides of streets, sticking their endocrine flavor

upwards, the sky a worn out organism

pressing its blue against what used to be

the velvet of skins

Neither of us

remained, neither of us captured

the moment the seagulls

departed

though it was long depicted

on walls and written within books

All these years now, I have been dreaming

whether they miss that something

as much as I do; perhaps

the coming season

I will check around what

was left or

reborn alike and I plan to include

you.

© 2017, José Coelho

Much More Than Skin

Much More Than Skin

The color of her skin    is

much more than

the color of her

skin

Approaching her 

skin with my

hands

treading beige flecks

touching, grabbing

sweat sealed

fingers

The brown matter of her

eyes

expands, slowly

blushing

the look in her face

quenches

day light's ebb

her dark sheeny hair

I cuddle with

glee.

© 2016, José Eduardo Coelho

Skin Will Erase Everything

Certain smells can remain

for ages

within the gaps

between tissues

of metal, wood, cotton

Skin will erase everything

alien to it self

within hours, at most

a day - the past becoming

what it should be

The past

however

pushing notes

whatever sort – song, lust, love

delivering them as foam

to the shore

our feet walk

will, one day, vanish

into a thin, flat

surface

So thin, we can't

touch it

not even see

properly -

perhaps discerning forms

of living things

and objects

in clouds and shades

is merely an exercise, for later -

the lines on the faces, on the streets, on the houses

and the trees balancing fast

too fast

so fast

our eyes doubt

they put a question mark

on time

For all those reasons

I shift

the weight above my forehead

down one and a half

hand

making it rest

on my

chest – which is

stronger

and doesn't think.

© 2016, José Coelho