qarrtsiluni

by Bryan Borland

Between gulps of syllables
you said you wanted to speak my language,
the coded initiation to our lesson
that would leave nouns and adjectives
covering my body in your slanted handwriting,
the roughness of your voice,
the words “cocksucker” and “faggot”
lost in translation, my burning ears
heard “baby” and “please.”
With your penis in my mouth
it always seemed I held the power
of vocabulary.
You slapped my face,
I felt a caress.
You pulled my hair like a proud older brother.
“Swallow it bitch” was a love note I kept
for years
folded in my back pocket.

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Bryan Borland (PoeticGrin.com) is a poet from Little Rock, Arkansas. His cat likes to claw his expensive leather journal. He thinks the claw marks give it character.