Steven Sanchez – Forgotten Song

Steven Sanchez

Forgotten Song

           Male sirens disappeared from art around fifth century BC.
                                         — Greek Vase Exhibit, University of Colorado, Boulder

Trace the the moon
                             waxing
 
               inside my thigh, graze
                                            my neck

                              with your lower lip, taste
my brine (you know
 
                             how to not leave
               a bruise). Your mouth

                             finds
                                           my beard—

warm sand around our lips.
                                            Skim
 
                the moss
                                            of my stomach,

                               the algae
below. Pin me
 
               against the ground.
                               Grip my shoulders.

                                            Let your fingers rope
into bowlines
 
             down my chest 
                            and abdomen.

                                            Fasten
             my neck

just above
               my clavicle.

               Make me drown
between your thighs.

               Dam my breath
               into a shallow

wheeze.
Feel ourselves

                             tighten 
                             into musseled
pools
                we may fill
 
in turns
              like J—

              and I
                                when we were
in love.