FACE ME

There may never be a chance like it again

to feel the humps on my hips

and their drawbacks, and draw-ins.

The drawstrings

are the curves of my eyes.

Remember how you tugged them when I was shy?

I’m not asking for eternity in the

lunchboxes of future children, but

yeah, face me—

No more imagining.

I deserve to watch your lips stumble.

I want you to remember

every oval on this body,

every tremble into their glory.

Face me, so that I may know the man

who sticks me with goodnight kisses

like a shadowless blade,

like all the silences

in which we were made.

My mouth is an exam

you cannot afford to fail.

Take me.