1 1
I reach into young girls’ laps to pluck up petals of my lover’s namesake, braiding up
2 4
a loose strand of hair with the splayed stalks. When the tower-girls whisper, who
3 9
are you?, their rich bones rattling in the wind like reeds, I proclaim myself Hero
4 16
of Love. I listen to their sighs as they each fall to the earth. When night comes
5 25
I ask, Oh Leander, take my hand and lead us into the wood, so that he might smile
6 36
upon me. Take my head between your gentle legs and crack me open like a walnut.
(I know I shouldn’t.)
1 1
Leander, oh, Leander come take my hand and he will smile upon me and—
(I shouldn’t be thinking about this.)
1 1
The walnut tree, I meet my lover where young girls’ swoons swell and harden
2 4
like bird-bones. I rattle my teeth and call, Leander, I am a reedy wind. Who
3 9
are you?, he calls, night has come and I am afraid of the woods. I laugh and take
4 16
his mighty legs
(It didn’t happen that way.)
1 1
(I shouldn’t be thinking about you, I need to breathe)
2 4
(god oh god what the fuck)
3 9
(I can’t breathe what the fuck did you do to me)
1
(L—)
1
(I can’t breathe)