Low Charity
It is a surprise to be desired.
I had never understood or expected beauty, so,
now I have blossomed sleek and excessive
like an orchid’s corolla,
I take what others give to me
and ruined men fall from my hands like ripe fruit
to lie rotting on the ground.
Sex is ceremony, a ritual
of feigned innocence, and earnestness.
I clear myself with water, rub oil into skin.
Quiet eyes watch men twist and struggle
at the sight of limbs to crack open
and consume,
so slim and smooth.
Pleasure is radical, a rebellion.
They snatch for caresses like beggars
rubbing buttercups into open wounds to make them blister.
They are offered outlines ‘til I am teased open
like tulips at sunrise.
Savour that pain.
Understand that I am willing to suffer for you,
however briefly.
Lines in italics are paraphrased from Emilé Zola’s ‘Nana’
It is a surprise to be desired.
I had never understood or expected beauty, so,
now I have blossomed sleek and excessive
like an orchid’s corolla,
I take what others give to me
and ruined men fall from my hands like ripe fruit
to lie rotting on the ground.
Sex is ceremony, a ritual
of feigned innocence, and earnestness.
I clear myself with water, rub oil into skin.
Quiet eyes watch men twist and struggle
at the sight of limbs to crack open
and consume,
so slim and smooth.
Pleasure is radical, a rebellion.
They snatch for caresses like beggars
rubbing buttercups into open wounds to make them blister.
They are offered outlines ‘til I am teased open
like tulips at sunrise.
Savour that pain.
Understand that I am willing to suffer for you,
however briefly.
Lines in italics are paraphrased from Emilé Zola’s ‘Nana’