Under a tangled arch of willow, ivy, and rose, she presses me back, back, against the rich loam, back, her fingers sly, her smile arch, her lips tipped with rose. Ever since the moon rose she has loved me well: my back is a bow, a lover’s arch. I arch my neck, cursing the rose-tinged … Continue reading My fair one
You once told me, the moon is made of salt, that all the tears that ever were are kept hidden there, disguised as dust. You spoke matter-of-factly, your pale face made sanguine by the dying sun. With deft fingers you stole dew from the grass, bade me drink from your palm. Above us, fronds of … Continue reading The truth of honey and salt
All the stars that crowd the ether— Unremarkable, compliant— Travel routes which are reliant On the plan prescribed by nature. Men’s desires have deceived her As she dwindles, meek and pliant, Though I bid her stay defiant. Once the pivot passed beneath her Never could she make a detour.
Do you see it? That red glow, low and clinging to the horizon, unnerving in its ambiguity. Even the stars recoil. Oil and water, earth and sky— I cannot reconcile them, Embattled as they are— Ardent and unmanned. And so my children learn their place: asymmetrical, the scales of power. Were you about to argue? … Continue reading Discord
My lover leaves her name outside my door when evening gives us leisure to explore the sounds between the silences, the stark divide, the interplay of light and dark, each night more daring than the night before. And when I cannot tally anymore the whispered count, the reckoning of scores, I catalogue each kiss and … Continue reading Mistress
