I was raised by a practical man
who boiled love down
to a chemical equation
which is why my idea of tenderness
is so messy, broken
an expression
that could never be balanced
by the most careful scale

eventually I gave up on chemistry
and I tell you it's because
those rubber gloves
made my hands itch
when really,
I couldn't handle the lab
since I was already a specimen
being examined
under your microscope

the thing is, in school,
they taught me about
the reproductive system
and how to wash your eyes
if an experiment goes wrong
but no one ever told me
what to do when the human touch
looses its healing power
no teacher ever gave me an A
just for waking up in the morning
which is the hardest test
and I do it daily