i am hopscotch without hop
Ryder Collins
you are hoppin john without black-eyed peas
i am the black-eyed peas without fergie
you are fergie without weight watchers
i am the watchmen without costumes
you are masquerade without eyes wide shut
i am open closed and open sesame
you are tahini paste + honey & i dip into you
i swirl & manhandle my flat bread in your honeypaste
& i am a woman so this is all
euphemism. you say, my mother and father are cousins
your left eye goes wandering
we are at a bar
it is our first date & i should run
my first had a wandering eye, too
he had a billy goat’s gruff beard & a pregnant ex
you are clean-shaven & chiseled
it makes me want to teach you things
maybe. i say, boy i’ve got a chalkboard but no chalk
maybe i say maybe
Ryder Collins has a novel, Homegirl!, available from Honest Publishing Press. Her work has also been published in Wigleaf, > kill author, DIAGRAM, The Southeast Review, and Fix It Broken, and elsewhere. She has a chapbook of poetry, Orpheus on toast. Some of her work can be found here: http://www.honestpublishing.com/books/homegirl/
