Forgot Want

Forgot Want

Oh yes there was a time I knew desire

and desire knew me

even with this squished melon face

and marshmallow body

desire wanted to taste me

and I wanted to suck its sweetness

Those musky nights of sea and pearls

though deep

never seemed vast

then breaks in the chain

became lost links

and even alone

there were no storms

I didn’t notice passion go nova

didn’t see the heat turn in on itself

and leave a black spot where nothing now lives

I simply forgot Want

Now within me there is a speck of flint

and a throb that flicks against it

almost catches

almost sparks

How can I scream in another’s fire

and merge it with my own

if the last time I burned

was a decade ago

in a work bathroom stall

alone

September 21, 2013

Tressa Lee Breen 

author reading poem