Molly Fisk: Parsing

Where the sentence begins: article, noun (subject), verb,

preposition, a second article, adjectives, another noun (object),

maybe a comma or dash, prepositional phrase, a clause

or two, the infrastructure meandering but intact, intimate

scaffolding bearing the weight of “love” or “death” —

of “you” and “me” and “now” and “quick” — including but not 

limited to breasts, wrists, ankle bone, testicle, left elbow,

lower lip, stations of the body blessed by tongue, by darkened

voice, our rapt attention polishes the whole: spit-glazed

nipple, rough shadow of stubble, swollen veins in neck 

and cock, the throb and lift, the terrible, wonderful friction 

craved, imagined, built to slowly, all too brief, arch 

of back and trembling knees — O please! — the pounding heart 

subsiding slowly, slowly, til it’s just a noun again, returning 

to its steady beat of subject, verb, adverb, object, softened 

breath, tenderness, dash, amplitude, comma, memory, period.

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Copyright 2022 Molly Fisk

Molly Fisk’s books include The More Difficult Beauty (Hip Pocket Press, 2010)