poem i enjoy more than i do him • parched
poem i enjoy more than i do him
i want you to think i am proximate to magic if not magic herself
i am so mutable i believe i have come the closest i can
i have run out of tricks to surprise you with
i wish i would stop being tender & easily imprinted upon
because my body is a byproduct of reactions i have adopted make me feel as my anthem
the biggest turn on lies in reciprocity
i begin to trust you with fragments of my poetry but i
overestimate a man’s capacity at desire you end
with my body i earn a whiplash & a blush
i want to ask what will you do to me
& be honey in your hands but
these sag thighs don’t chase
part for pleasure
cure a bitterness with chai sweetened lips
fold spread pucker
i enter myself before you i must love you
⟰
parched
looking for something to pacify me from being idle so
i cut up a papaya & slot a wobbly orange unit into my mouth, suckle
i may only have two mouths, one for eating & the other
for this precise amount of ambiguous
liken dried flaked skin round edge of
lip to desiccated coconut
because even the lack of
moisture can be a revelation
i am resistant to veganism
the same reason
a white person
might reject the concept of
race: the desire
to participate in
tradition
for a snack crunch a sheet of roasted laver
in folding between fingers then wrap
tongue around, give water
this
is how it feels
to at once be exalted
by salt & devastate
the most delicate
About the author
Zhi is a Malaysian poet on Ngunnawal country, now existing as the esoteric wormhole known as Canberra. She loves cooking, nourishing & drive thru's. Zhi also enjoys obsessively changing her bio on Instagram and being mediocre & joyous as McNuggets.
