You stopped time
Just to show me you could.
Not in a bragging way
But as if to say
Look, isn't this cool?
We strolled down the sidewalk
Mocking the frozen people
Their awkward limbs
Trapped in unfinished gestures
And I wanted to touch you.
I wanted you to tell me
That nothing was real
Except our bodies moving
That we could remember this
And it would be like it had
Never happened, like a dream
I told you in the morning.
This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine.
We joke that it would make a great tattoo
Black scroll unfurled over my pubic bone
Crisp burn of desire etched into skin
Supple words staking their claim on me again
The way Sycorax owned that island
Fierce and undammed
In the oldest version of the play
Miranda taught Caliban her language
But what did Prospero's daughter
Learn from the eloquent monster
What mask of innocence did she display
To cover the crowning beast inside her
Singing
I'm nobody's humble servant
Nobody's good girl
No princess
Shining like a cenotaph
Worshipped and powerless
That dare not offer
What I desire to give; and much less take
What I shall die to want...
And all the more it seeks to hide itself
The bigger bulk it shows.
But I've decided to let it grow
In all its savage charm
What strength I have now's my own
Its sharp wings brush my flesh
Pinned to my shoulders by their inky weight
Graceful as Ariel's dark twin unfolding
