Laugh During Sex

we share belly laughs so loud

they reverberate off the skin

and release as a prayer to the air.

affection, some days it tip toes quietly

in the offerings of the last bite of his meal.

other days it screams loudly in the songs he sends

when he wants to say “i’m thinking of you.”

we carve our names into the silence

that fills the air like thick fog in autumn.

it wraps arounds us the same way

flesh wraps around bone, necessary.

a storyteller, with his hands, paints me a picture

with the brush of the fingertips across my thigh.

i kiss him as if he has the winning

lottery numbers buried in his mouth.

there is a psalm in his palm,

holding space for my presence.

the safest place in the whole wide world is

in the arms of the one you share tears with.

his head nestled in my lap, he looks at me like

i am the promised land.

he asks, “read me a poem?” and i do.