@ the time

At the time.

Our love was blanched
flavour was added later,

artificial intelligence installed
left aping homo-sapiens traits,

like endless war and dreams
and the poignancy of rain.

I lost you when I lost myself,
somewhere between stops

a sentence that was never
finished, partial grammar

setting a difficult crossword.
A thirsty place sucking print

from the damp divorce papers nisi,
orders of court pealing skins apart.

At the time.

When we were not negotiable
lovers we were gawping open

mouths beneath Niagara love,
shooting over her rapid falls.

Once you blew hard in my yawned mouth,
I gasped drowning on your hot breath.

You laughed and put me in the recovery position,
tilted my head back & gave me the kiss of my life.

I never learned how to swim until today
mouth tightly closed on a floating tongue

clocking up the lonely laps on the scuba watch
you bought me as a joke one summer break.

At the time.

I preferred to sink to the bottom of the pool
with you clinging to my tilted neck, begging

for one more kiss of my life, being blown into
my broken mouth, before I sunk unconscious.

An old man snagged on your pretty symmetry
growing white and bloated on your undertow.

At the time.

I preferred not to swim, but I did love to die.


John G.Hall(C)2006