I am your denial, your Lent fast
The mania in your DNA,
the way the helix twists around itself.
I am the finger-shaped bruises on the inside
soft of the thigh, the color of ripe plums
that you can’t stop pressing
because it hurts just right—
like us, the way we crack our knuckles.
The scoliosis question mark,
bent spoon of your spine like
Scandinavian silverware, its unfunctioning beauty.
The snow of a thousand dandelions gone to seed.
The sugar sacks of fat around my body
that I love to touch and hate to see.
I am the thrift store of your desires,
a polyester pantsuit resold.
The starch of morning arthritis.
The dark under your nails
that isn’t really dirt.
The yellow smoke smell in a jacket.
A mango eaten off the pit,
stringy mango veins that stay in your teeth.
A washing machine that doesn’t drain.
A man cursing in his native language,
foreign words that don’t translate.