Wednesday, April 25, 2012

play things


you poured me cognac
just to watch me pull in too-sweet cheeks
grimaces not supposed to be grimaces
tulle skirt slips, bobbing knees
unintentioned stiletto cracks
hallow wind tunnels
you make taking
my hand into your hand.

I’ve never trembled
like this before
-abalone eyes
I’ve watched you
lay into the corners of my lips
uncrossing t’s and licking the dots
off i’s
leaving my tongue deaf
and my ears numb

you ODB, shimmy shimmy ya lovin’
cool cool cat

“too cool 4 skool-mann”
I almost believed it:
empty notebooks, pens hollow,
Crime and Punishment buried under towels

I forgot why the longing
in your limbs
the cigarette silence
shoes by the door

nene
I want to
resurrect men sculpted
from torn sheets of music

rub my eyes
tell them- read
the neon mascara psalms
hidden in my fists.
break the teeth, snap the bone

pin the shattered mirror
to my chest
Juana Ines de La Cruz
they call me

but you’d chuckle
almost knocked off the bench

careful

the cig will scorch your thigh
ya allah are you ever still

cachinnation clinks glass
shimmy shimmy shaking
politely I sip, pursing merengue lips
watch me pucker, let it slip.