did you originally kiss me to quell the dread rising in your head like carbonation?

What's the best way to live
without flinching every minute?
How can you lull yourself to sleep
when the laser disc symphony
isn't music to your ears
because tonight you want
not quicksilver but growls
and hisses? Think of vultures,
hippos, frilled lizards--
the noises they make, or silent
viruses doing aerobics under
microscopes. How does anything
begin? Did you originally kiss
me to quell the dread rising
in your head like carbonation?
"Tiny blades of grass point
skyward with forlorn authority,
toward He that sowed them."
I can't believe that either. Try to
be brave anyway. If the Titanic's
salvageable, then maybe today's
travails will leave a romantic
aftertaste, or provide a roller
coaster of desirable side effects
like all the best modern medicines.

[Amy Gerstler, 'Pillow Talk', from Bitter Angel]