If I open my eyes, she thinks,
they’ll be gone
but for now they are
definitely there, definitely
watching me with their grins and their
little black eyes and
their molten skin.
If I stretch out my finger very gently
perhaps they will come to me.
Courtship dance performed
on weak, shaky legs
but then she opens her eyes, as we
always do. And they –
they act like they’re gone, just
as they always do.
(Originally appeared
in the September 2012 issue of Subliminal
Interiors)
