Dismantling Arkansas Stars

by M.E. Riley
mouth-deep love
mud between your teeth
Unlearn constellations
to see stars:
twisted back of the archer
whiskey-tipped bull horns
pots hanging overhead
full mattress on floor
The dotted home we
wished to move into
mouth-
deep love mud
between your teeth
Going back toward childhood
will not help:
plastic-seamed Fisher-Price embrace
smell of Barbie’s synthetic resin
Insist on love spoil it
reach my body within yours
Eat the wildness of a new
one already in our bed
mouth-deep
love mud between
your teeth
M.E. Riley sweats in New Orleans. She is an assistant poetry editor and blog editor for Bayou Magazine. Her work is forthcoming or has most recently appeared in Bop Dead City, Quaint Magazine, The Rain, Party, and Disaster Society, similar:peaks::, The Feminist Wire, Ghost Ocean Magazine, Every Day Poems, Nude Bruce Review, Eunoia Review, Belle Journal, and Best of Tales from the South, Volume VI.
Ben / April 23, 2014
Love this poem! M.E. Riley is my freaking GIRL. Nice work M.E.!