You glow in my palms
orange embers scorch
skin- my fingers dance
shy around you, touching
your blossom bathed
surface. You kiss
like sunburn, begging
me to strip
away your rind
So I oblige –
digging thumb into navel
tearing away the glowing
casing of flesh, peeling piece
by piece until you’re just before me
naked and exposed, yellow flesh
still shining through white fibers –
lustrous. Your body unfolds
in my hands bending
with my fingers, you open
your flesh, blooms
into petals. I bring you
to my lips – taste you
acid and sweet,
pockets bursting then dripping
on lips as I consume you
flesh in body
whole. I know I’ve done it again
screwed up for all
that follow. But I don’t care –
my lips still blush and pucker
with the taste
of you, my original sin.
First published in Boundless 2010 anthology of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival,
El Zarape Press
