Mouthfeel

A lisp used to ride my consonants
Made them dense with sibilance.
In speech therapy, I swallowed spoons
To sharpen my tongue like a knife.

Back then we kissed pinkies at sleepovers
Corralled secrets with banded brackets
Headgear forced tectonic shifts
While our lips went sulky and perilous.

My worst self supine on memory foam
Night guard feeling like a rule to break
At least an indelicate turn of phrase
Your dreams get caught in my teeth.

Dentist knows I chew my cheek till it bleeds
Elemental whispers deserve excavation
To wash away diction that tastes like someone
Who hated how I spilt syllables on the floor.

Listen: I promise you soft vowels forever
Hold fast to this butterfly mouth.

down, down, do your dance, do your dance

lost a vertebrae dancing at a wedding / next morning said: iced, please! / rubbed my neck
in the direction of the barista with a cupid tattooed on his. he laughed / poured the coffee said: that’s what happens when you throw ass at thirty! / well, who’s gonna catch me like a bouquet / borrow me like a pearly necklace of your great aunt’s teeth / am I too marian blue falling apart for you / well, fuck—i’ve never been good at finding things.

My body in three

I.
it’s all clear
swirling in the tub
where you soaked my feet
and rubbed my legs
because i wouldn’t stop running
water only exists in the present:
now my feet are dry
and our love still

II.
on easter morning
i woke up to an email
from my mom
about traveling abroad
to freeze my eggs for cheap—
a firesale!
like peeps tomorrow at walgreens

III.
people talk about people
being too in their heads
i’m too in my body
there’s a nerve
at the end of my finger
i’m fairly certain
is keeping me alive
i’m getting a manicure
and it feels so good
this stranger
washing my hand in hers

Spritz

Campari billows up in the glass like squid ink
makes me think of getting my period in the pool.
Maybe that's why I feel embarrassed when the bartender asks:
Another one for you, bella?

Roadtrip

We gunned it to reach the Grand Canyon in time for sunset. Drove so fast we missed the turn and laughed that we could miss a wonder of the natural world like it was some podunk rest stop off the highway where wild-looking dogs panted by the pumps. We missed a lot back then, like how to let each other go without our jaws locking like lost keys and how to settle down somewhere we could come back to. Now we live on the edge of this gash that stretches on forever with no bottom and no deep breaths. When I scream into the expanse, there’s no answer that sounds like home.

We gunned it to reach the Grand Canyon in time for sunset. Drove so fast we missed the turn and laughed that we could miss a wonder of the natural world like it was some podunk rest stop off the highway where wild-looking dogs panted by the pumps. We missed a lot back then, like how to let each other go without our jaws locking like lost keys and how to settle down somewhere we could come back to. Now we live on the edge of this gash that stretches on forever with no bottom and no deep breaths. When I scream into the expanse, there’s no answer that sounds like home.