You have such large, sharp, soiled teeth! 
 All the better to eat me with. 
 Keep them unsheathed, bare me underneath 
 if you would be so merciful. 
  
 I want to let you in, let you 
 rip out my desiccated tongue, 
 scratch my throat and hew 
 your way past my heart. 
  
 Devour these traitorous cells 
 in my lungs and liver. Wrest me 
 open, grant me these final spells 
 of ecstasy and poignant pain. 
  
 Melanoma's gnawing stinging 
 aches are forever forgotten 
 upon the nibbling bites you bring 
 to arrest unending anguish. 
  
 The red root sap soothed you fair; 
 oh medicine of the Pawnee, 
 old wisdom begrudged to share: 
 cardinal flower seduces 
  
 when anointed over sagging skin. 
 Your tongue along my neck ponds 
 a hot spring where canyons begin, 
 closing the throat in forethought’s face. 
  
 Elevate me with thrills I’ve never known, 
 or at least haven’t known for decades. 
 Carve with your claws the lines of this crone. 
 Perforate the wrinkles that formed for you. 
  
 Family may plan to visit my land; 
 little Scarlet will see the corpse and scream… 
 but please, leave her be. She shall understand 
 when my disease becomes her legacy. 

Preview from my upcoming 2023 collection The Soul Without A Summer