110 Degrees Valentine

The love that’s left
after you subtract
yourself the dividend
is called the unconscious
denominator in the old math

but in the newer glimpses
we’re getting of the strength
it takes to hold it all together
in your mouth the taste for what
would otherwise spell defeat

looms largest among these steep
hills and narrow valleys the flavors
of these last pale flowers
for with them the wrath
of summer cometh.