Content warning: allusions to sex

the rodeo clown makes love to the bull
pinching pulpy animal flesh
tangled between red bedsheets
watched
in an arena full of cowboys

o rodeo clown, my rodeo clown!
what is it like? in the tall grass
your meat hook prayer
your briny flesh, all pear juice tongue

the lamb, suckling on the statue of liberty
           closes its fist
           against girlhood
           against desert kingdoms
           and mountain steeples
nothing can muffle the sound of
           daddy giggling in her dressing room
or cain and abel, headlocked in
           lover’s embrace
and the bull, oh the bull
           buck-wild in bed

the whale-road pierces simulacrum
love has a funny way of being
twice as big and thrice as small

seven times you cross yourself
fingers twisted in the shape of geese
                       mid-flight
your body dreaming of
           diamond bodices and fur coats
           god’s treasures crushed between
           a lion’s jaw—hair, teeth, engagement ring
and mother
scrubbing
the dishes raw
in the living room

o rodeo clown, my rodeo clown!
which dusty road did you follow?
was it to andy’s factory or san francisco
i love you, my rodeo clown
           let down those tresses, those cowbells
and kiss me kiss me kiss me
           body and bull, body and bull