Mehndi Vine Ode

I want your picture down on this page / so

I can veil you in my words, / soft,

platonic words / scrawled

carefully by careful digits /

calculated words / to

make you fall / in

love with / me

Shoulders: / swoon / beneath “swoon”

wilt / most lovely / in my shadow, /

where I scrawl / clumsily, /

tumble

down

noiselessly

between / infinite stalks / of your hair.

Coming up for oxygen.

I don’t want to / breathe,

but blow ink / through henna red teeth

and / paint splotches /

high

on the insides

of your thighs. /

A Rorschach.

Dip nib into / navel /

or moistened / orifice: /

refill.

And back / for another verse.

I want your picture down on this page / or

your nudity / down as a page might be / and

my words, / soft cover

where only / my eyes /

Can pry.

-Michael Appleby

September, 2005