neck and neck

i keep all of your ideas in my front pocket as

mementos of when the ball would play favorites

pinning you down with the kind of thrust that ties a ribbon in the midst of my most lead-footed of fingers 

take it as guesswork

that

balding hem

you nourish like furor

was dripping decoys alongside the bends that house your jaw 

draping

wary measures

link-bent

so that the knots play like folds

and the washes keep score