BUTTERFLY POEM

(for Bayla, 6/22/09)

There's a butterfly in my boyfriend's mouth.

my sister said.
That's why I kiss with my tongue,
to catch the butterfly. And I swallow him,
everything, I swallow everything to feel
the fluttering wings and my mouth alive,
to find eternal life in the wet salt, the salty cream.
How it tickles my lips, my mouth, my throat,
and down.
And the butterfly alights in my minds eye,
like a surprise of colored sparks in darkness.
And I fly, I fly.
That's how I fly.
And that's why I kiss him.
I capture him.
I take wing.
There's a butterfly in my boyfriend's mouth.
my sister said.
And I will live forever.