NEW LOVE SONG
by Schuyler Peck
This is not about weeping
in an empty elevator, or how
someone new gets their fingers
knotted in my hair when they kiss me.
This is not even about how if I jump
hard enough, I’ll fall out of all my clothes.
I want a tattoo of a strawberry patch on the soft velvet
of my thigh and it’s not because I picture the juice
running down your chin. I want more hands
so I can trace lines connecting all the freckles
on my back. to let my wisdom teeth bloom
in the rush hour of my mouth so I can smile at you
with even more of me. I’ll buy film and take nudes
to frame in the bathroom; make every guest’s trip
a bit more personal. Honeysuckle hand soap
and pink nipple by the sink. It’s time to exist
the way I write everyone else; hand held
to my chest asleep, mouth open
by the mirror, mascara curled
like cursive,
beautiful by being alive.
Schuyler Peck is a writer and performer from Portland, Oregon. She is the author of To Hold Your Moss-Covered Heart and A Field of Blooming Bruises, among other titles. Her work can also be found at Crooked Arrow Press, Rising Phoenix Review, JuxtaProse Magazine, Words Dance, Persephone’s Daughters, Thought Catalog, Literary Sexts: Vol. 2, and more. She loves you. Follow at @hiitssky on Instagram.