" A Thick Kiss, A Transformed Wish "
Stand in the empty fountain,
barren rose stems
cluster close against the winter.
Slice the iced apple, hold crescent
wedges to flushed cheek,
each a porous kiss of Novocain.
Rub the coin, touch my thumb
against the engraved profile,
close my eyes.
Crack the boiled chicken egg on my head,
strip the shell with thumb's edge,
cradle white astigmatism in palmistry.
Select a single wish from the body
of swirling want. Take a moment,
savor the thought.
Stand naked on lava gray, puddled
with vapor. Ripples on the pool lap
wrinkles embedded in callused soles.
Flick my thumb, the metal flashes
against the stars, clatters face down:
a childhood dream passes behind my sight,
Arch of spine reaches upstream,
exhale the stretch in each sinew,
breathe white flesh--cold, warm, wet.
each encounter with a well
where I do not wish.
Distend pores, drink the wind
of this waterfal--never, never tell.
© 2004 steve Williams
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