Avoiding Eye Contact

Don’t you dare look at me

with that ‘love you with the lights out’

expression, or those ‘hungry,

but not hungry enough to stomach you’

eyes which whisper everything

that your lips refuse to say,

because I don’t think

that my stray kitten heart

will be able to refrain

from clawing at the bars

of my brittle rib cage

and reaching for you – you,

a man who always preferred

dogs to cats. I regret to say

that those very lips between

my shoulder blades

and lovely hands upon

my hips will haunt me

long after you decide

that this fleeting casual affair

has overstayed its welcome.

All of that to say that

there’s nothing casual about me

or the way I kissed you goodnight

without realizing that it was goodbye,

so if you’re going to look at me

like that, I’d prefer that you

not look at me at all.