by Jessica Harman
(01/19/11)

                 for yayaya

To talk dirty to a woman, you must move
As quickly as a fish through white rapids,
But not say as much. Talk gently as rain.
Kiss to calm things down back to a stable
Meaning, one where you can hover in each
Other's arms. It's about grace notes. Not the thrush
In the bush, but the way it flies and alights
On morning branches of the body. The skin
Is pearlescent, the blood and lips, electric.
Don't harp on it. It's the mind that matters,
Moving like snowfall through circles of winter.
A woman needs her fear cooled by ice-kisses
Now and then, before the heat blazes
A summertime of lightning in the grove,
Calm the waters, make the sea placid as light.
Kiss the horizon together, slowly as sunrise
Or sunset, the first stars, before you dive
Into coral reefs, looking for the quick pulse
Of the body. Laugh together, about undulations,
Without saying mountains, roads, or tits.
Let the nipples become springtime, slowly,
Blossom inside your hands as if they were sparrows.
Use the word, "wet" sparingly, as if it cost
You thousands of dollars each time you came
To the window to watch her reflection
Shimmer in the tentative rain.

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