I have kept my secrets too long; now I’m alone.
The honey of my amorous body
Trapped every winged tiny thing which flew too close.
No, no, no
This isn’t what I planned—
Every love becomes a coin in my hand.

Is everyone but me happy and natural?
Should I accept sex is boring and scary?
Lovers barge in with muddy boots
From the ugly world.

In love I’m a shadow imp,
Turning the corner to find a lab magician
Harvesting my heart to boil gravy.
I watch my own soft hands twitch at my sides
Like an amoeba’s tail beneath a microscope.

Am I meant to be warm and lusty?
I run and hide inside the scar of the tree
In my mind’s forest and think.
At the end of a limb is a hive.

I imagine the bees’ anger
If I were to plunge my fist right in.
Exposed skin, no claws—
What a stupid thing to do.