A new poem by poet and musician Cadence Chung.

Desio

Easy to blame desire easy to blame it when us girls are all out there showing ourselves off easy to blame desire easy to blame it on the want the wanton of a woman they just can’t help it they just want ruin they made Rome fall and it is still falling falling endlessly into the rotting love of the past the dust that ends up on the corners of our lips to lick away easy to blame desire for sneaking into dressing rooms for reaching out for a touch and finding much much more for turning bodies against bodies against bodies endless human dominoes all trying to bite the love out of each other knocking over glasses in in their haste to cut teeth together but the truth is desire is not something you talk to the mountains and rivers and flowers about your echo trailing away uselessly shouting its name like a curse into the rock-snotted dip of a stream desire is a white-cold-burning caress a stroke of the candle flame a pinprick sliding under the first sheath of skin it’s not something you shout about it’s something you beat down with tiny hammers into your sinew until you find it in every touch and every sleuth of hot blood that sits, waiting, in your lips

The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are now being accepted until 21 April 2024. Please send up to three poems in a PDF or Word document to chris@christse.co.nz.