“Lick Me Again with Fire”
~ for Louise Labé, 1524-1566
I ride through Lyon with only my plaited hair
for cover, lap cream from a broken bowl,
eat peacocks stuffed with their own flesh, swallow
a throbbing mouse. I wear a black opal
between my breasts, clutch a raptor’s feather
between my teeth. I lie with a man not
my husband, legs entwined like my father’s
golden rope. Unbind me that I may succumb
to the Sirens’ song, women, yes, and bursting
with lust. I am the comet’s tail, mistress
of burning coals. A meteor breathes within me.
I divine the future from the wind. I am
the lioness licking her blood-stained claws.
*
Grace Massey is a poet, classical ballet dancer, and socializer of feral cats who lives in Newton, Massachusetts. Her poems have appeared in Quartet, Thimble, Lily Poetry Review, and a number of other print and online journals.
Every line, every syllable is “on the mark.”
Love all the rich imagery.