I slake my thirst on raindrops
lapped from sky
I imagine air around me
a slice of the screaming blue above
leaded with hidden starlight and dripping
My slice of sky knows brilliant
better than the tongue that prods
better than the eyes that unfold possibility
Fish in bowl love a certain slice,
chunk, cube of space
water that can gleam, can bubble, can green
with golden scales belched pollution
I watch water ripple through gills
I taste the probability of sameness
in a slice of sky with rain
and a cube of water
suspended by panes of glass
I know what it is to suck fruit from
a mango, stringy goodness, passion, love
burning orange condensed milk of the sun
Underneath, my tongue knows more
than the obvious, the pleasure of mango,
pain of pimientos. Knows the underneath of maybe
is also veined and purple, ugly no matter
which way you turn it. Knows the proximity of sweet
sour and bitter in the anguish of a bud-less garden
palette empty of color but for that
splash of purple; a hint of deeper in, of liver
and the curved edge of uterus.
Words preferred as concepts and not visions.
Still I lap at a starlit slice of sky
collecting raindrops, exposing gut purple,
a soft underbelly of maybe that jeers at fish
gills and their hidden secrets, makes love
to the memory of mango nearly tasted
unfolding possibilities.