Love

It wasn't love
it was cocaine metabolised out of my skin
that made animals dance outside the car
as we drove through the night
I don't remember where we were going
or if we we got there
I was wired up to the battery
and my teeth were chattering
like I was imbibing electrolytic speed
from the battery cells and the road ahead
with words falling from me like electric confetti
not even looking at you
not even certain that you were there
just that something other than myself
drove between lines and lights
almost forever, it seemed,
like it could never stop.

It wasn't love
because in dawn's grey light
I sat on the beach
with iron filings and ash
where loss should have been.