C.J. Miles

The Physics of Bae

I woke up with an amusement park
Lodged in my esophagus. A roller coaster hitched
To my spine. Carnies camped out in my lungs.
I hammered an eviction notice to the front
Door of my heart. I called to you in coos
But you were too busy collecting rent
From my spleen to hear.
Nothing is free, not even feelings.
Especially not feelings.
Not even looking at the moon.
Not even the cinnamon steeping
From your spine. Or the poems
We feed to the birds.
If I jump out the window, will the ground know
What to do? And what did you think
About when you rubbed my skin
To the bone? When you spent
All of last week grinding winter
Between your teeth?

Will Anyone Come for Us?

I bought us an island.
It cost a pregnancy scare and two moles
On my back we couldn’t afford
To get biopsied.
Still, it was worth it.
I bribed the maps to forget there was an island
I bought us. In return, the maps
Demanded our firstborn, a gallon of skim, eight dreams
Disguised as mantises eating their prayers.
On the island we learned how to fall
Asleep mid-kiss. Hello,
We told the island, Let us be welcomed
To you. The island took pictures of our clothing
As they fell off of us. We laughed at every shipwreck
That never made it to shore.
Someone, somewhere, coughed love.
We stayed still. And for a moment,
We both believed in God at the same time.

Your Heart Is a Haunted House

There's a spooky sound to breath
And let's not even mention love,
I haven't grown that tall yet. 
When I grow tall I want to be
Samson’s hair scattered on
the floor of Delilah’s lap. 
I want to grow gills and make out
In a lagoon. I want to be a lagoon.
The last supermoon before 
We all immigrate to Mars.
I want to be all of Mars.
Build tornados in the basement 
Of my lungs. Call my dead sister
Collect, ask her what 
It's like being alive twice. 
Every haunted house is a magic
Trick I have yet to solve,
And this morning I woke up speaking
In time zones. You were days
Gone, grown and all.




--
C.J. Miles lives in Iowa with his wife. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Forage, Moonglasses Review, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, and Jazz Cigarette, among others.