Homewrecker by Ocean Vuong

Homewrecker

& this is how we danced: our mothers’

white dresses spilling from our feet, late August

turning our hands dark red. & this is how we loved:

a fifth of vodka & an afternoon in the attic, your fingers

through my hair—my hair a wildfire. We covered

our ears & your father’s tantrum turned

to heartbeats. When our lips touched the day closed

into a coffin. In the museum of the heart

there are two headless people building a burning house.

There was always the shotgun above

the fireplace. Always another hour to kill—only to beg

some god to give it back. If not the attic, the car. If not

the car, the dream. If not the boy, his clothes. If not alive,

put down the phone. Because the year is a distance

we’ve traveled in circles. Which is to say: this is how

we danced: alone in sleeping bodies. Which is to say:

this is how we loved: a knife on the tongue turning

into a tongue.