Sa bouche de fraise
“Les Métamorphoses du Vampire”
Baudelaire
Envision Scarlett Johansson’s disheveled blonde
in Vicky Cristina Barcelona
going in for that girl-on-girl kiss
ensconced in the reddish amber glow of the dark room.
Add a bed of Aztec serpents squiggling on lava-hot coals
with voluptuous undulations, invitational to fire-walking.
Lips plump as berries, she rises from the blue sofa
murmuring your name in a tongue half succubus,
half butterfly—a beauteous dream
mouthing musky syllables: je t’aime, je t’adore.
Before the angel-damning bite and suck, quick flash
of Cassiopeia as she tumbles out of heaven.
Ambidextrous lotus,
even pale Nietzsche would blushingly believe in God,
open the slim parachute,
feel the silk on his arms like the slit of a razor,
know what doesn’t kill you
makes you hungry for more.
Kallima Hamilton is the author of Outside the Lava Fields (Aldrich Press). Her poetry has appeared in The Mas Tequila Review and Shenandoah. She works as a literacy tutor and ESL instructor in Haslett, Michigan