Simon Perchik’s most recent poem to appear here was “An everyday rain is not enough” (April 2018).

You show up late as usual
need more darkness
though you wait

the way each star
smells from dirt
and her eyelids

—the mouth you return to
is already weeds
worn down by the silence

that’s lost its balance
can’t escape
and won’t let go

—some nights
further than others
smaller and smaller.