copper thin
i am suffering with 4 cents
gargled and unmoved in the back
of my throat. ravishing, hunched,
stagnant saliva drowning
in its own water,
trying to recall the taste
of tainted minerals
and the silk of her shirt.
lay back, she says,
flesh and buttered cotton
buried half visible against the horizon.
dropped another penny
through my ear,
put her head up to mine,
and waited to hear the plunk.
ribs are the strongest,
but they are useless as forks
devoured by soup.
and my stomach?
she jokes it is endless.
