The first time you threaded your body into mine

I shivered; it was strange. Cold hands descended

On my belly, bitter frost crept into my breast.

I asked you why you’d swirled inside, all chills

and howling winds to crash down my world

Of hibernation. You muffled your answers

With white blankets and grey fringe, both

Haloing the frost between our lips.  I could love

You more fully if we traded freeze for thaw—

But you only love me when it’s cold outside,

As though the mercurial contrast finally

Makes my warmth seem substantial. You

Want to explore me then, the way weakness

Takes advantage of a fever-ravaged form.

Your whispers come in reverse, sucking in

The words and heat, and leaving oxygen behind

To coat my skin.  I flicker upward, summoning

Fires from the cisterns in my toes, and setting my

Belly ablaze.  Your fingers shrink away—

The snow sticks, but you’re the one melting.

12/21/2003

Author's Note: Collaboration between Mainon A Schwartz and myself for the New Beat collaboration contest.

Posted on 12/22/2003
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