By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 14 May 1998

Morning Musings

Smelling of rosewater & glycerine
         and rumpled like a
     wilted flower
     at the foot of his bed
     the long crimson dress
      I bought at the thrift shop down the street
        one happy Saturday
     when I had two dollars in my pocket
        and no one to impress

  His arm is crooked around
     my bare torso
  He is breathing rhythmically
     sleeping like a lion
    and I lie awake shivering
  looking out the smudged window
    at the stars hazy through
        milky clouds
     until the drunken sky
       burps a sun
 
  I watch as the sun turns
     my discarded dress
   into a flame and
     my nipples into rosebuds
        I feel like Eve
     newly formed from a rib
      Adam out cold beside me
           still unaware
            of the fact
        that he is not the only inhabitant
           of this glorious world