Levi Cain

 

i have crawled through
many scorned springs
& empty autumns with
my throat gone hot from waiting

                                                                    o milk-tipped wife,

i am here.
let me hold you.

                                                                    i will keep you warm

among the muscle & let you sleep
soundly under blue veins.

                                                                    i am your husband
                                                                    in want.

come sit on my lap—
there is more left to touch.

come dance down the aisle,
i am building a panting altar
made of sea salt.

there are no church bells,
only you waiting to be
dressed in wedding colors.

                                                                    i will marry us
                                                                    under a canopy

of stick-on stars & the weight
of your hand on my jaw.

coax me open,
see my tongue
cradling a treasure
of snowdrops;

my eager canal,
february filled.

                                                                    sweet bride

with your dowry
of steaming pearls

                                                                    lover among lovers

with your tongue
dripping topaz
& sweat-stone

                                                                    i say unto you:

give me your lips,
the color of orchids.

take into your mouth,
a pulsing winter.

Levi Cain is a Queeribbean writer based in Boston. Their work has been featured in Shenandoah Literary Magazine, Room Magazine, ANMLY, Arsenal Pulp, and elsewhere. Their first chapbook, dogteeth., was published by Ursus Americanus Press in 2020.