41
Three poems by alec verse
DESIRE, THREE QUESTIONS
ONE.
I bit my lip split cherry over you. An echo of your laugh sits tight in my chest and makes it hard to fall asleep without your hand on my rib cage. I want you to draw me, to taste the blood sweet on my lower lip, to bite down into the plush undertone of my belly to take me as I am, without thought. How much will you cost me?
TWO.
Gather me in heaven, and raise me from hell. Am I your Lazarus? Either way, find me underneath your white sheets with my fingers pressed in deep. I suck on your sadness until I gargle pink into the kitchen sink. I will hold you until fire and rain melt into each other. We spend thunderstorms with spit soaked sugar on our thighs. I drip honey for each flash of lightning breath. Your spine is dark and heady and home. I cut a piece out to take with me back to Texas where the sun turns me into dust, and the air is hard to remember you by.
THREE.
In Massachusetts, you spread me like a bird on your bed. Angels are stronger creatures than mortals will ever dream to be, so hold me down and dig your nails in. This is your feast. I’ll show you my flower if you show me yours. Your light is brighter than my insides, but you choose me every time, in every life. Are we soul mates? I watch for for hurricanes, for too loud laughter, for skin pulled tight in a manner so haunting I dream about it every night. I never look at the eyes, because I know better. Look at the eyes and you surrender everything. You’ll make God cry.