A virgin, I carry an empty:
an accumulation of space.
A sign around my neck: the core
of my body is an untouched
baby’s crib.
I incubate something else, a sputtering
leak drips: rainwater hitting the roof
of my mouth. A kerosene pool swells,
overflowing the crib. When I hold
my breath, I hear it sloshing,
lapping, laughing against my walls
like children in a tub, bubbles. I carry
the ocean in me: endless, untouched, dark
blue — never seen a star.
be mine, unformed
the longing spilled from my gutter
while I was buying complacent conversation,
a silent robbery, it stole from my grip.
My bones ached to disown the secret
wish, ringing in ears,
staining through thoughts. But
a gravitational pull had formed
and my axis tilted, inclined,
towards anyone who could
strike a match near enough
to my mouth. So I shove air down
my throat in case a flame is offered.
All of my breathy spoonfuls are making
my seafloor’s waves wild: restless.
Aquiver, no longer guileless, I linger,
alone except for my gut’s
archive of hologram-daydreams longing
to be punctuated and drowned in substance:
waiting for a light.
