romaine 

you don't 
undress me anymore 

will you touch me
then like a head 
of romaine lettuce

i want to get smaller
& smaller with each 
frilled-edge leaf--

how many dresses are
there left before
we reach skin?

at the kitchen table
mom tore each leaf
into portions to
fit in our mouths

washed in the sink--

the dirt up 
their white legs reminded
me of walking back
to the car at 
the beach as the sand
flicked up my thighs--

when you clean me
use cold water--

i want you to feel
my goosebumps--

my hairs cornfield
raising--

have you ever made
love to a green skin
boy before?

did you think 
i would be endive or
watercress?

bitter & deeper in color--

i buy lettuce 
pre-packaged now-- 

ice berg
because i like the 
crunch of bone--

at the salad bar you
would say that ice berg
was only water--

does water have 
a skeleton? 

ribs & a collar bone
to coat hang me on--

flecks of carrot
& bruised purple cabbage--

there i am peeling
the carrots over
the trash can in our
red-floored kitchen 

mom shakes a mason
jar of Caesar dressing--

oh of all emperors of
Rome we resolved to 
eat a betrayed body--

sometimes i feel like 
loving someone is like
holding a dagger under
your robe--

what are you waiting for?

don't you want to be
God?

we don't eat olive branches
we eat with forks--

do you have a metal bowl
big enough for us 
once you've taken
me apart?

gong-ringing as
you set it on the counter--

are we getting inside then?

me & you asleep
on the hard backs
of garlic-butter croutons 

crumbs in our teeth--

i'm still wearing
my wrinkled teal button-up shirt

i don't know how to iron--

i can see the one in my parent's house
on the top shelf in the laundry
closet 

i wouldn't know how
to use it though--

will you kiss me with steam?

i want us to fog
on the windows-- 

to leave hand prints-- 

as i peeled down to 
the heart & the romaine
leaves began to shrink
they would also flatten out 

as if letting go of
all the tension in their bodies--

uncurl your toes &
let your hair fall out like
a clump of oak leaves--

i wanted to make all the
lettuce flat as 
a pie crust--

i pressed each blade 
to my thighs-- 

pushing down & praying 
for a horizon--

will you love me then?

standing in the salad bowl?

barefoot & in my boxers--
wearing a wrinkled dress shirt

crunching ice bergs

wash the dirt off
my thighs--