Ode to Asexual Libido

^{after Margaret F. Browne}

the cure for hysteria     finger on clit                    throat opening

 for wandering womb   hammered into such arterial

gold   afternoon sunlight hot as names in the belly         o gland

             swelling breath            satin stroke        the labial murmur

-ation of birds splintering anxious pupil              into ring

indigo     rain above mountains dilating

                         o hand’s wet circle         both disorder of desire

and treatment for           not wanting anyone else      in these sigh hips

             arched into all that penitent       sky pelvis

hinged up and down     the impossible asexual girl ache     faster

            pulse a honeyed lock                 gasping    vulva    widening

carnivorous covenant     the uterus flush           and again

that alleviates pain        that reminds how to howl o yes    o god killed

and brought back broken      to hum                  like a promise    severed

at the daughter   o femoral   o wrist      o vein pounding with

thirst     if this is first praise         then let every   horizon shudder 

and spit          the cervix          coughing lightning          back to brain

         through the jaws     and thighs sugared     as dirt

o cactus flowers opening       o release       the thunder       into blood

              a new   word                 for tremble      is burial