He could charm the poison out of fox gloves

and used his skills to quicken my heart.

I wondered what he fed on: frayed liturgies

and the secret dreams of women,

toxic spores translated into messages

of lust, slivers of the dank March sky

rolled up like pickled herring.

I never knew. He always skimmed me,

left me hooked on some potent pollen,

some sacrificial line,

some cold gap between sentiments.

His fingers were like cathedrals,

too big to untie my delicate knots

yet he knew me inside out like he knew

the names of flowers and bats and clouds,

like he knew how to throw daggers

without skewering the soul.

He could sniff out creeping wolf-men

and crack their backbones with a lazy wink,

worked my fingers to his throat

like a snake charmer,

made me slide and arch with his singing breath.

After we'd loved and I was doped up on glow

he laid wet silver on my eyelids

believing it would bring him luck.