4.08.2023

her name like an old wish

If only he could touch her, 
Her name like an old wish 
In the stopped weather of salt 
On a snail. He longs to be 
 
Words, juicy as passionfruit 
On her tongue. He'd do anything, 
Would dance three days & nights 
To make the most terrible gods 
 
Rise out of ashes of the yew, 
To step from the naked 
Fray, to be as tender 
As meat imagined off 
 
The bluegill's pearlish 
Bones. He longs to be 
An orange, to feel fingernails 
Run a seam through him. 
 
[Yusef Komunyakaa {1947- } "Lust" from 'Seven Deadly Sins', in The Best American Poetry 2001]

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