mistaken for love

—only the female mosquito bites man and other animals

I am moving on and under the dampness of your skin

death wish mine alone and every

pore of yours open to desire

when the wind comes I will have had my fill

in sips of you and then that instant you swat me away

my tenderness gone unnoticed

all love the sting unasked for

slide of hand along a back the buttressing of courage

to go further

and tonight as the sun gathers its tired story

as humidity encloses our words in envelopes of echoes

tonight you will wish you had left much sooner