PERFECT LOVERS

my perfect lover is behind me
not their body, but in time 
not in regret, but in dimension 
like me now, changed, but then,
treading in the innocence of not
knowing, or needing, to change 
each lover a dried bean or fruit
or fungus, awaiting rehydration
my perfect lover is lucky walking down
the block, I have extra bread in my bag
to share, shy bites beneath the archway
summer sunsets but the vines stay stocked,
the neighbors abandon their guilt 
as the black grapes keep growing --
perfect lovers being friends, yes
and songs having been written about their
actually simple contracts, 
beautiful by al green, good woman by cat power
let’s make a deal to croon, to be good,
to be old, to demand each other be
each other, both now and in
the future when
we’ve all
lost track