the animals in winter

I would taste your mouth with the

     fury    of frozen wind

and push my fingers     hard

against the bone of your skull to

     pull               you in.

In the iciest of Januaries I would      pull

you over the wooden hull

     of my ship.    I will be so small, too small

to bear your weight;      I will be nothing but

this force of pulling.      With everything     and so small

                                             I will pull you in.

I want to fall beneath it, the weight of you     and

     find my way out with the heat of my tongue.

          I will learn the terrain, map it with my

                teeth.  Like a bear, like a bird

                                I will know.



9.19.11