I’ve got a little gift

I’ve cupped it in my hands for you

Between each sweaty palm it lies

Pulsing.

If you’d like to take it

And press it to your chest,

And let it sink, although not painfully,

Into your core—you can.

It leads down to my soft wrists

And through my arms

Gracing my sore shoulders

And the ballet curve in my back

Sitting, settling in my hips

And shaking, shaking when they sway

Dropping it through my strong thighs

Like weights in my knees

And out, out

Through the bottom of my heels

To fly back up again

And shoot sparks through my neck

And lead you

To a place where you can become very lost

The colored pebble paths all look the same--

They wind and twist and spiral out my eyes!

Deeper, deeper, backwards as well.

The blank face by the white picket fence

The dusty bulbs ‘round the oval mirror

The flicking lights and constant, glorious

Discordant anthem!

There’s a mermaid who can

Shoot sweet syrup from her fingertips;

She’ll ****** you,

And carry you down more colored paths

Than you’ve ever dreamed of walking.

Every night you’ll be happy

And she’ll try not to release the venom from her teeth

I promise.

If you take it…

Ignore the broken glass on the floor

Hold it and speak to it

Keep it someplace warm.

And please—watch my eyelashes

They rise and fall

For you, for you, for you.

.