she loves a man with cactus skin
inside her heart, the world begins
it's curled up there
kept safe and warm
and in her eye
a twirling storm

performing for an audience
he shrinks to see his inner self
and up on someone's pedestal
retracts his spines for smoother skin

an evil eye reflects the light
of hotel room, some other night
where everything collides just right
but not here,
where this bead
meets a page