Choke

I train my dreams on a retractable leash

Running free yard after yard.

Until one inch too far they choke,

gasping on the thin air of absolute reality

Phantom Lover

Cradled by pillow-top I sink

into the realm just this side of slumber.

In those last indistinguishable moments I recognize

the weight of his arm at my waist,

our hands clasped to my breast.

And the way his thigh rests between mine

I know that I am home.

I measure his breaths; by the brush

of his chest against my back;

until I know he is just as close to succumbing as I.

My unresisting mind goes under to the whisper-soft

exhalations in my ear.

And in my dreams my lover and I meet.