LEAN, CHILLY (flavor added cutting away the fat)

Lean, Chilly


I prefer goose bumps on my thighs,
globes visible before a lean,
skin more 3-D and neon red
as fingertips graze, so light no prints
are left, concentric rings identifying me

as the one who knows
you like the first person who makes
a map to you.
Happy enough to find
the first fold, I’m lucky.
The rings on my fingertips
have a life of their own,
have
a way
of expanding umbrella
to the blue sky of branches,
filters of light through thick leaves

to the love I’m feeling –
decisively switchy,
curious if I
could pass for a boy, tuxedo
shirt hips blended to waist
by cummerbund.
You hold on to your center
at the fantasy,
breasts bewitching
enough to disappear
for the sake of our movie,

in which we suspend our disbelief, suspend
our briefs,
and swan our necks and legs through loops
of skin, that
defy
what is on the screen,
small or panoramic.

2006 Vermont College Packet 1