Sever –
amputation
with one sharp, swift,
axe dropping sentence,
legalize on
fine stationary,
followed by the firm handshake
avoided eye contact,
the last glance out of windows
onto lines of parked cars.
Severance,
exchange for silence,
cleansing their guilt,
denying fault.
For aren’t we the faulty -
exhausted after
blindly marching
for the lost cause.
Once proud warriors,
we slink away -
defeated
hoping there will be
funds
for the severed.  LS

the rustle of skirts
a flair and a crease
in satin or silk
after the glow
of lights at the dance
came the quiet
of the motel room
the rustle of skirts
coming off
the slip sliding
of adolescent
ecstasy

A song on the radio, a water bed in winter,
he taught your mouth to shape a kiss,
patiently, suck a bottom lip, bite, his
lessons linger in fingertips, the power
of a drawn map on skin, your body
knows how to bend and twist around
a stickshift , your mouth knows how
to scream without sound, you're killer
at keeping secrets. He showed you how
to unbutton jeans with teeth, but you never
quite got the trick, or returned some formative
favors, firsts that should have been yours
to wrap around him and swallow. You should
have scrawled I was here in spit on the inside
of his thigh, invisible ink. You should have
marked that territory like a conquistador,
mounted him like an equestrian, left no
what-ifs in your wake. What if he had tasted
like a seashell, what if it felt good inside you,
what if you hadn't always been afraid.  LS