the blood between my legs
spills like wine
grab your umbrella
your long-stemmed glass
this is life
holding a hand
to its ear
I was raised on a gospel
of abstinence
three beers in
when I met you
it felt like opening a gift
don’t be so slow
to trust in hands
don’t be so slow
to come
in trucks, in cabs, use
uber, tinder, grinder
whatever with weather
this drunk, we can
finally afford to
let go —
release
like the collapsible
belly of knees a
swirling falsetto
gelato peaches
and cream
I am
a woman
tired of tending herself
like a wreck to be swept
from the road, skin
caked in chagrin
I was told of sin in my flesh
but when I look at my tits
I see only teacups, pure
and pale, sweetly pulling
honeysuckle tongues
the interstate sideshow over
my worth measured
in volume
escalating ohs
traversing through Tennessee
we came, hand
in hand, with weather
so level, how can we be
anything but devout —
horizontal
heavy in grass
rolling white
beneath a stag reel sky