we caught eyes
in this convenience store
but
not because i fancied you.
i was piercing you
with my gaze
lips pursed, ready to spew
all of the hatred that swelled within me.
you were air and I was a balloon
but
you didn't expect something so hard
from someone so "soft"
because since i was a child
i was taught to speak only when spoken to
to do what men expect you to do
to find comfort in getting someone to fall in love with you
but i will not settle with
being defined by someone else,
not even you.
ive spent far too long holding my tongue
because that's what they expect women to do
they expect you to stay silent while they undress you
not just with their bodies
but with their words, falling like dominoes, spreading until the last one falls
but when will the last one fall?
when will I feel comfortable walking home by myself?
when will my clothes no longer be a form of consent?
when will the lines be paralleled?
when will birth no longer be punishment?
and when that day comes
when a boy tells my daughter what she should and shouldn't do,
his words like howling winds, destroying everything in their path,
she will have been made of stone.
and when he compares her to other girls, she will know wholeheartedly that she is a beautious being
and not because someone told her so.

so, here we are in this convenience store.
and i no longer hold my tongue.

isn't it ironic
that a body
that was once
capable of
creating life

can also manage
to destroy it

winding
spinning
grasping
sinning
follow the motions
read them aloud

the flick at the end
of your lowercase d
ignites me
when you say
you're aroused

whipping
digging
curving
and looping
i study your prose
nectar trickling down

body curved like a c
lips pursed patiently
my dear,

how are your o's so perfectly round?

rhythmic
shaking
stirring
quaking
the stroke of your pen
is all i can see

without physicality
my floodgates are opened
with poetry
you stroke me

Each and every
nook and crevice

will be adorned
with perched lips

And, within moments,
those lips will bless my ears

with the bittersweet
sound of promise

And those tired eyes
will captivate my soul

However,
someday, those crevices
will remain untouched


These ears,
imperceptive

Someday,
those tired eyes



will cease to love me

Blind.
Mute.
Surely not deaf.

I long for metal clicks

The leather belts.
The tears and welts.

On these things, I'm affixed.

You loosened your grip
My body drifts to sea
I allowed this febrile fit
Unwavering supremacy

Thoughts render me numb
Under life's debris
I've become the sea
And the sea is me