I
bite my
tongue,
lips were red
kissed by death
we painted the earth
in ecstasy
we stored up
power in our intrigue
handed to us
by magazines samples
we rubbed across wrists
a touch of expectation
we were supposed
to be made up and
smiling, approachable
photographed from above
to hold youth’s stare
our wagging jaws
sag us with what we don’t
want to say but do
I outlined my eyes
touched up my lies
had people see me
without my mask
the acne they said I’d outgrow
the bags that weighed further
as I stayed up trying to catch
every dream, where are souvenirs
I overlooked
II
hands smoothed by the
dish soap, laundry soap,
last hope lather,
nothing is done
everything is mumbling
what noise we buried our hearts in
piled up on the couch
did it get sore
from the same position
chores, more chores,
we poured our soul
into ourselves and shelved
and reshelved dreams
that once kept us up
but we are too tired,
too busy, to remember
what they were
and weren’t they so
important
III
we were a joke
tickled man’s rib
stole it outright
the tight sight
of the apple bite
brought us to a life-long fight
though we’ve—since eve—whispered
I don’t bite
to the snakes
we wake to a world
that promises away our rights
the bra, the law of carrying
chests, full of secrets
buried for the patched sight
of seekers with maps and exes
we were vexed at having to waste
the time burying everything
we pulled people to our shores
this island where we drift
lifted by the tide of onlookers
what mysteries we spoke of
and still, felt undiscovered
while trash drifted from across the oceans
onto our beaches,
how deep the reach
to each her own landscape
littered in others forgotten pain
IV
somehow we’re still shocked
as if we hit the funny bone
everything is angry and vibrating
when we reach out for something
that should come so normal
a fierce pierce
though we somehow slip
and hit them in the rib
we stole
so they get another narrow marrow escape
we raised hairs,
pairs of teeth
comb the mess
pressed to undress
I guessed you’d like me better
this way, after the fact-flushed
when we last felt beautiful
did it touch all of us
or just the skin, the breast, the clit
the wanted bit of us
your words were nothing
it was your actions that pulsed on repeat
could I but delete them
but I was told without them,
I’d feel nothing
be no woman at all.
V
take me to church
to pray the ritual away
the underlined text
the undressed legs
bare my souls to the lord
bare my ass to the forward
what cowards we were
full of moony eyes
trying to prize daydreams
we grew, we rued, we knew,
what too much we gathered
let the petals fall around the vase
the complacent eyes
deny and try again
high heal-me prayers
petitions on repetition
let my leg crush the skull
the full bone crunch
that I bunched myself
in corners to hide from
for so long.