“Somebody Gave Me This Madness”
Ain’t it painful to feel an itch coming, knowing full well you ain’t gon
be able to scratch it. –ej raines
When we fuck, I think to myself
trembling: men disappear
and this is how it happens—
with gentle weeping
and the gnashing of teeth.
I stake my claim gloriously with
idiolectic tongue, hungry fingers,
open palms. I chase your voice
on the water, whispers of red,
salted and deep.
Listen to my heart. What’s inside
surprises even you: these lips
settling in for a night’s work,
rotation of hips like the sprawling cosmos.