I am interminably white.

I limp,

gasping and feathery,

into your last blueness.

I want

the adoration of flowers.

O tightly wrapped little things,

cheeky reds, delectable yellows,

how they close against me!

How do they know

my beauty’s all

glam glitter

over bone?

Listen, my live ones,

I glow for you.

I am your night-goat.

Feeding and fattening,

I trim your darkness,

hold back

the wild cosmos.

Darklings,

I plead.

Unfold your pretty

tight-petaled skirts,

and I will send

tongues of light

down your long pretty throats.

______________________________________________

Charlotte Innes has published two chapbook of poems, Licking the Serpent (2011) and Reading Ruskin in Los Angeles (2009), both with Finishing Line Press. Her poetry has also appeared in anthologies and journals, including The Best American Spiritual Writing 2006 (Houghton Mifflin), The Hudson Review, and The Sewanee Review.