Bird Pictures

bird pictures and lamps
pins that stripe on her pants
skylight snapshots of trees
a doona and controlled heating
her breath
and me

she's asking if I'm so sure that i'm fair
she's actually searching for her words in the air
and I'm wondering if a chest-bone can tear

and the clouds are like air-ships
each one spiralling down
in flames and chrome linings
i'm sorry if your feet weren't on the ground

I'm complaining about what I haven't heard
so she's talking about the spaces between words
but I'm not so sure
there's even those anymore

when they mean that I have to say all this
when like feathers
the salt just rolls off her lips
when they sound
like snapping wings

and the clouds are like air-ships
each one spiralling down
in flames and chrome linings
i'm sorry that your feet weren't on the ground

bird pictures and lamps
she's stroking her hands
and talking little details she had planned
so I'm unhooking her birds
she says she wants to leave me only hurt
but I've got her hair
all over my shirt