peter jerrim

mystery parcel

you
all these years naked
tied up with string

yet how to unwrap you
I don’t mean unpack you
I’ve done that often enough

mentally comparing
hearts, lungs, pancreases
their colourful myopia

(gorgeous, deadly)

with mine – and other people’s
I keep my mind on
simply by attaching imaginary

tendons and programming them,
the new algorithms being
so cool: just

blow compressed air
and see what they do
no, I mean unwrap

as in deeply attend to
the inside experience
of what’s inside your outside

which is not your extent, I know
but it’ll do
when

you walked
past me
I breathed in

your remnant atmosphere
analysed it
for

biosignatures
lo and behold
a cool begin

a couch a comfort
a comfort
or a style

like scrawl
a love
note on an

eggshell, burn
a tattoo in a
mouse’s ear

either way
your message
might move me to

love