Synonyms for a LoveBite

Sep 16

I am 22 and just wanna feel good

I wanna feel fucking

perfect like my body still belongs to me

A synonym for a love bite

I’d settle even for just an arm tease

when I think of places I want to get married

I think about the fenced in

Or how cold eggs feel

sometimes when no one is looking

I steal something white and plump and squeeze it in my fist

I fall asleep with the lights on

worried I'll wake up with premature wrinkles

Last week I dreamt I was on a boat and woke up dizzy

Last night I dreamt I had a kid but she looked like

All those white girls on TV who don't eat breakfast

To be brown means to be incomplete

Today a man followed me on the street

Screaming something about these women

These women and their babies

speaking on behalf of everyone

Wants to belong

Wants to be loved

The night in the alley

Me, you, and one pink puddle on the concrete

How I found a home in our sock collection

Said I've missed you with my tongue

Apologized without my lips

In this dirty dream my body works perfectly just for you

Published in Contemporary Verse 2, 2023

Self Portrait as Someone Trying to be Soft