Reader Desperately Seeking Poem
I.
I am looking for a long-term
fling. I am looking to throw
you against the silences; I am looking
to be flung
into the center of Merriam-Webster,
and to climb my way out,
assay over Titmal.
I am looking for you to start
with a whisper, a rattle, a buzz, a breathy
death-shake, and then whisk
me away to a mythic field of lambs
with phosphorus mouths. And after
I have tumbled out of the vehicle,
lost my way, and been found, filthy and panting,
you must bear me back to the closing
ratta-tatta-tat, crescendo-ing
into hot, fluffy blossoms
over the top of a popcorn bowl.
And finish—confusingly, inevitably—
by flinging all the kernels into the sky,
for misshapen stars, fourth-degree kisses.
II.
In return, I promise
to press flesh against page,
my fingerprints against your lines,
your open spine against my breasts,
the rhythm of my in-and-out
to the blues of your stillness. . . .
I promise to repeat you to myself,
slightly misquoting your best sections
(and to suffer disappointment when I realize
our mistake). I promise to never grasp you too completely
and that in the spring
I will chop you up on index cards
and sow you throughout the city,
proving I am not a jealous lover.
Bethany F. Brengan grew up in Kentucky and attended Indiana Wesleyan University. She now lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her poetry has appeared in Channel, Solum Journal, The 2015 Poet’s Market, and CV2: The Canadian Journal of Poetry and Critical Writing. She can be found at https://medium.com/essays-no-one-asked-for.