by the water in the summer         winter seems a nightmare
I welcome in near ecstasy         wind whipping through

your cool fingers brushing        down as if to persuade me
sweat from my forehead         from delicate images

your breath whispering         of ever gentle immortals
conch songs over my ears         exquisitely dreaded

the force of your greater         immanent expressions
being pressed against me        angel i know you in flesh

i will not release you            until you bless me

Michael Collins’ poems have received Pushcart Prize nominations and appeared in more than 40 journals and magazines, including Grist, Kenning Journal, Pank, and Smartish Pace. His first chapbook, How to Sing when People Cut off your Head and Leave it Floating in the Water, won the Exact Change Press Chapbook Contest in 2014. A full-length collection, Psalmandala, was published later that year. Another chapbook, Harbor Mandala, is forthcoming in July of 2015. Visit http://www.notthatmichaelcollins.com/ for more.

Read our interview with Michael here.