Climbing You

I want to understand the steep thing
that climbs ladders in your throat
I can't make sense of you.
Everywhere I look you're there...
A vast landmark, a Hawaiian volcano
poking its head through the clouds...
Gulliver sprawled across Lilliput.

I climb into your eyes, looking...
The pupils are black painted stage flats
they can be pulled down like window shades
I switch on a light in your iris...
Your brain ticks like a bomb.

In your offhand, mocking way
you've invited me into your chest.
Inside, the blur that poses as your heart
I'm supposed to go in with a torch
or maybe hot water bottles
and defrost it by hand
as one defrosts an old refrigerator,
it will shudder and sigh...

Oh there's nothing like love between us...
You're the mountain, I am climbing you.
If I fall, you won't be all to blame,
but you'll wait years, maybe,
for the next doomed expedition....

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