I wrote I Love Amanda in barbeque

sauce on top of a beef and potato

casserole and slid the dish into the oven

 

I wanted you to taste my heart     wanted you

to see it scorched into a tablet of unripe cheese

and grease     wanted it to stick to your ribs

 

but when I pulled the casserole from

the heat I found that the words had

spilled out across the entire surface

 

just as well

 

if there is anything that cannot

be bound by words     anything

that cannot be confined by language

it is how much of you I carry in me

 

as much as the sky carries stars