Cymbalta
One of those voices was biologically female and it said,
Put your hand under my mouth,
but don’t nuzzle me with your bulldozer the color of Easter.
When a man with rough skin starts undressing himself,
he may warble
like a fountain, or brides—
I watched the sides of his mouth quiver in what could only be
described as a gesture of panic.
Was his torso so gilded in birch leaves? Were his nipples excited
by fall? I don’t remember
the name of your friend from Montreal,
but I’m sure bugs don’t bother him much up there
as they hear the blood pulse through his sweater and tiny scarf.
One does think about bodily delight—
And that makes the tongue burn towards an earlobe,
then the low or soft shoulder beckons,
and I’m back at your starting point, which you were right to call
an interstate
chiseled across our hayfield.
-Stephanie Cleveland
About the Author
Stephanie Cleveland is a feminist who has spoken nationally against pornography and prostitution. Her poems have appeared in Colorado Review and are forthcoming in Another Chicago Magazine..