i grew wild without you
& finally fit the whole sun
in my mouth 

crack sidewalk-- 
grip stone--
bite down hard 
on the asphalt he told you
was your body-- 
my body is wild--
wildflower-- wild weed
wild moon coming
to sit on the lowest 
branches of the evergreen tree
in the backyard--
give me back those fistfuls 
of dandelion skulls--
oh children roar sun--
spit spore--
watch me grow wild now
& nip at your wrists
with rodent teeth &
dragonfly legs--
i listen to the hairs 
back grow
hesitantly across my arms--
my armpits bristle--
oh water reed & pussy willow
& tall grass on the side
of the highway
infested with ticks--
suck my body clean of 
this red blood-- i
want to be cobalt-- 
i want
to be blown away into
a thousand flecks of soft sun
like the heads of 
the dandelion you tried to
weed out of my skin--
i'm here to 
show you how wild i've grown--
how thick the moss
creeps across my thighs--
how the raspberry bushes
came to find my ankles
how mulberry trees tossed their
braids down my shoulders--
let's eat wild--
stain palms with berries--
chew roots-- tuck sugar
cubes under our tongues--
who did you think you were
to trim all this 
untamed body? 
i've learned that boys
come with pliers & rakes
& shears & razors to
uproot you hair by hair--
what do you think of 
me now with the spearmint
bush trans-versing my spine
like a tightrope?
there was always too much
body for you to keep up with--
there was always too much 
sun to keep my body bare 
of weeds--
i'm a chain-link fence-- 
an old brick wall--
i'm laying out this body 
in the august sun & waiting
to see what comes to grow--
trust me weeds there's no
one left who wants to
rip you out--
this body is wild now--
growling to 
shake off the pebbles--
snapping knees through
stone--