so filled with lust for the influential phrase

A low bleat starts up, like a huge swallowing. 

I lie down in the darkness and listen. 

 

He names the purring 

starting with alligator—then, bullfrog— 

 

I take his mouth 

(flutter), make my high, light sounds— 

So filled with lust for the influential phrase. 

 

By day, we canoe the dark water. 

He points up at the moist branches and says 

osprey, egret, swallow-tailed-kite—

and I watch them eagerly, and I call to them 

bird! bird! bird! 

 

[Mary Szybist {1970- } 'Swamp' from Granted]