I found your heart in a dark dusty jarYou had to protect it so long, I’m sorryYou’re shaking again, you aren’t you without itLet me help you put it back inFix it in place one little act at a timeGo slow, breathe deepThere’s no opiate for this reunionHave the tea, […]
Rice and Beans
Simmering rice, each graina swelling promise kept,and steamed windows,veil of vapors betweenour exclusive biomeand the rest of Everything.I’ll wash the beans, darlin’,while the onion crispswith the bell pepper,chambered like a heart.We’ll plant the seeds together.They say the secret is in the saute,but I know it’s in the wayyou honor the […]
All That Is Me
Cut me from the gristle of this world.Boil me up in a tall hot pot.I want to feel the drudge leach from bone and sinew.Steam every injustice from my pores.Cook me down to my concentrated essence.Steep me in a bold flowering tea.I want to drink in all that is me.-Melissa […]
Peaches and Cream
Peaches and creamI gave you marmalade dreamsSticky in the jar the silence clings20/20 vision I couldn’t see the beamsI knocked and I kickedBursting behind every sceneMad with hunger give me a beanA drop what do you meanMy hands can’t feedIf you don’t water the seedBurning violent in the fieldOpen the […]
Soup and Salad
Squeezing melons, shaking in lineTelling myself I’ve got the timeI’m okay, I’m okay, yeah that’s a lieHe stands out there holding his signSoup and Salad, no meat on his bonesSoup and Salad, lost the way homeHe’s the father, he’s the brotherHe’s the lover that made anotherHe’s the sun, he lit […]
The Saints Took Up Smoking
A card or a bladeTo finely mince,Separate seed and bud,Pack and roll in paper,Lick and seal,Pinch and twist the ends,Hemostats if clips are too bougie,Or raw pawBetween two fingers,Light up, drag deep, hold,Hold,Hold,Release.When we slaughtered the lamb,And left the flesh to rot,And the coat to mat,And the blood sticky across […]
Torrent
I am sticky rice and toothsome sauce,dripping morsels,seared yet tender,falling apart on your tongue,a torrent on every bud,the maddening compulsiondominating your days,and your nights,leaving you fisted,growling in your sheets.-Melissa Donley
A Little Death in Cherry
Free falling in the surround sound ofsea breeze and return flow,Riding out that funny shapeyou make with your tongue,a nerve tingling tempest,a perfected torture.Do you remember my flavor,A little death in cherry?-Melissa Donley
You Missed the Light Today
Darlin’,you missed the light today,through the shimmy of the leavesand the poise of the daisies,between the swaying shadowson the carpet.Maybe light doesn’t have a sound,but I heard it in the hushing of my mind.I held it in my handsand felt it in my smile.It feels like you, darlin’.It feels like […]
How Beautiful You Would Sing
How beautiful you would sing,heady in my sheets,the ones with the panthers and tigers,frayed tag and summer lightwhispering across your,well,hum deep,something sweet for me,give me a reason to believeI won’t regrethow beautiful you would sing.-Melissa Donley