i.
When you are fucking an old man, you wonder if he will
die on the brink, if the bright black birds nesting in his
sterling chest hair will peck straight through and make
a meal of his heart
you look down and watch them with kitchen-light eyes
ii.
When you are fucking a phantom, you count backwards into
the negative numbers, your arteries agonize and sing like Axl Rose
He spreads you like apricot jam, he
holds your head under until biology breaks you
iii.
When you are fucking a shipwreck, you rock like the green sea and
remember every salt-stung fishwife who came before you
He talks dirty to you in the language of crustaceans, he
says you are a witch but you do not comprehend
iv.
When you are fucking a minotaur, you ought to know the danger is
real, you clutch your breasts like a scant harvest of ripe avocados
He splits you in two while he’s trying for tender, he
makes your mouth into a labyrinth that bleeds
v.
When you are fucking a housefire, you wear a paper nightgown that
ties in the back, you recite all the holy poetry you know at 78rpm
He rubs you right raw with his trigger finger, he
sends you a Christmas card when the deed is all done
vi.
When you are fucking a stranger, you wonder if his name will
pierce your sealskin, if it will burst from his lungs wild like
drunken yellow roses to corrupt the fine joke and make
a coffin of your fiction
you look down and wait to weather his body’s surprise
–Art by Milan Vopálenský & Esmahan Özkan