She, Infinity

Hold me

You opened the cage,

pulled me out.

You wrote L O V E on the bars

in blood.

I beat, beat, beat

these wings against your palm

but you just held my flaps of paper down

and drew your finger across my spine.

'Shh, shh, shh'

I twist, squirm; anxious

wondering how you have this hold.

This tight hold on me.

You whisper love.

I lilt into the warmth of your breath

the fragrance of the letters

as they flit and flitter off your tongue

so close to my ear, tiny marbles roll

ice cold down my neck and unroll across my back,

unfold like a globe into a map –

all the lines and intersections of our flesh

stitched together with rough thread,

held by tacks in the deep impressions from your thumb

covering the tiny holes

where you hold me