When she opens / blinds, grabs a towel from the sink / red with tomato juice—the dark tuft of hair / hiding inside her thighs

Photo credit: Thomas Sayers Ellis

that man will call your belly / his canoe. unstrap his eyes / from yours. he ain’t / there to see you, see? / let him pull.

Photo credit: Thomas Sayers Ellis

my jaws lock in mid-sentence / and hands cover your last white / leg with dirt /                                     i name it / a lighthouse: a jar full of salt:  / a longitude line    undone

Photo credit: Thomas Sayers Ellis

And when she looked at me, her smile / fixed as she said, Yes, that I was beautiful, / too. Even though my eyes were crossed. Even / though my thighs were thick. Even though / my knees held onto the dark

Photo credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths