tell me about the sexy way to die
and show me with ketchup packets:
should we be comical and lay sprawled
on the rug, first rip a corner from this foil
with your teeth and make a pendant
wear it
collapse
later stare
then we laugh
and-a kiss
or, if you’d like, we can make an edible noose
and make rope with black licorice for a twangy tug;
but should you fancy more air, we can intertwine
like a cherry vine, so long as we keep at bay
what mercenaries and old wives may tell
thoroughness completeness succinctness are valued:
if these ‘ships were yours to sink, I’d want to know first
how you’ll go about your soft, sinister way — whether
you’ll drape your hand over one’s paper bow or finish
its keel with the whisk of a finger, like a cloth over dust
give-a-damns are treasured, oft-found on the Sargasso floor
but we can dip and dive, us two, and we can die looking,
for, truly, there is nothing lovelier than a limb to lend
in revelry and a man with a willingness to indulge
