do you know flowers
you know the ones you press
the ones you try to keep forever
by binding them in the folds of a book
so they retain their sweet perfume
she smelt nothing like that
she was wild and vicious
her smell was savagery
raw and unkempt and full of power
and lust but also sweet and pale
an anemic honey like wilting wyseteria
her taste sugary, grassy, bitter like a tonic
medicinal