“The Perfume’s Overwhelming Despair” © Bill Wolak

 

His muse

i’ve come to love Your body
more than i could ever love mine
the mushroom shape of Your nose
shatters me into pieces every time

i want to place You on my steel gurney
my scalpel to Your skin
i want to search Your fat, Your muscle, Your vessels
for any sign i was ever within

why can i feel You all over my body?
from the burn mark You gifted me
on the fleshiest part of my right arm
to the deepest crevices of my aching chest
a feeling that my scalpel can’t cut out
His god knows i’ve tried

Your skin
and chest
and hands
and arms
are a sight of beauty
cold cut marble chiseled to the sublime

how i long to leave my mark all over You
like the jagged ones
You expertly sculpted into my soul and hide
little cuts to prove i matter
or have any semblance of power

was i like You?
smooth and beautiful
before You designed me into Your liking?
before You turned me into your abandoned darling?
i can’t remember
His god knows i’ve tried

all i know is You are the artist and i am Your muse
only You can decipher these chips and cracks
that make me long further for You
to come back and mend them
please come back and mend me

i am an unfinished piece of beauty
begging and pleading to be
Your masterpiece and Your legacy

 

Erika Fleming is a current medical student in New Jersey where she has developed a passion for narrative medicine. She previously earned her masters in nanotechnology and has chosen to kindly spare you the details of her academic publications. You may notice a lack of poetry in her background. That is because she is just beginning her journey of sharing her work.

Bill Wolak has just published his eighteenth book of poetry entitled All the Wind’s Unfinished Kisses with Ekstasis Editions. His collages and photographs have appeared recently in the 2020 Seattle Erotic Art Festival, the 2020 Dirty Show in Detroit, the 2019 Rochester Erotic Arts Festival, the 2018 Montreal Erotic Art Festival, and Naked in New Hope 2018.