Keening

I want you like a woman –

(womb full, the swell of my breasts a shallow beckoning)

But I need you like a little girl.

Baby fingers curled,

my body a tiny lump under the blankets, cold as the other side of the pillow

I want you like a woman: did you forget about my heart?

The little organ a slow-pumping victim, a dull thud

Rattled in the cage of my ribs

The girliest of all my parts, far away from my woman's brain

Turn left after the flop of my stomach,

(It's bright red in an empty bag of bones)

How could you miss it?

How could you miss it? It's only my heart

Smaller than a baby's fist and twice as temperamental.

I want you like a woman –

Wine in my mouth, a heady hum in my throat

Keening for you.