“The Unmistakable Tingling of Arousal” © Bill Wolak
Nest
Swaddled in softer fibres,
a downy encasement
as a newborn,
I nestle down,
hunker upon feathers
reshuffle wings for comfort.
A balm.
Calm.
Serene.
Clean.
My mind clears,
dilates like expectant eyes,
widening scopes,
bending edges
forming longer, softer curves;
I climb them like ribs
spiralling to heaven,
out of breath
but gazing up, silver tinged,
halo close.
Sharp, jagged cuts
await below:
shark teeth in a cauldron
brandishing wild dog barks;
which could snap me in half
with mere eye flickers:
pulsing, wavering in winds,
tempting me with headstrong,
switchblade hearts.
I ignore sirens,
blanket my ears with silence:
a gilded, soundless symphony.
Intrepid, I fall into calmer waves,
find a hidden nook:
a bay of serenity.
Here, I am less fragile,
more steel-fringed,
hiding within troughs and peaks,
turned only by moonlit thoughts,
piloted by grit-locked instinct.
A tidal tune,
only I can hear,
embalms my ears,
tuning my eyes to sleep.
Souled, renewed,
I return to stitch my lair,
creating deeper, womb-like layers:
a multi-patched,
feathered
nest.
Emma Wells is a mother and English teacher. She has poetry published with various literary journals and magazines. She writes flash fiction, short stories and novels. She is currently writing her sixth novel.
Bill Wolak is a poet, collage artist, and photographer who has just published his nineteenth book of poetry entitled What Love Calms Only With Nakedness with Expeditions International Publishing House. His collages and photographs have appeared recently in the 2025 Dirty Show in Detroit, Amorous Art 2025 in Indianapolis, the 2025 Rochester Erotic Arts Festival, the 2020 International Festival of Erotic Arts (Chile), the 2020 Seattle Erotic Art Festival, the 2018 Montreal Erotic Art Festival, and Naked in New Hope 2018. He was a featured artist in the book Best of Erotic Art (London, 2022).