Leatherbound

He's a hardback enigma
With no dust jacket
And a dented spine,
Battered with use
And time.

She's just the first enticing cigarette
After a lover's death in
Last-for-first breath exchange
On a paperback floor.

He was back-to-back one-liners,
A lost plot forgotten cause
Saying "Read between my lips"

She's literary indifference
Trapped between the pages
Of leather bound salvation
And tarnished gold leaf lullabies

He risked a second kiss,
Held her flush to guilty lips
And inhaled her toxicity -
Clothesline hangups and all.

All it took was a lighter
To ignite her.

Now he says, "We're leatherbound".