was how he wasn’t really my first,
she was. We were explorers

of the other’s curves. Our fingers, teeth
and lips were ships. Our hands traversed islands

of flesh as we stripped
away the idea of who we should be,

and who we should love, those social handcuffs
unlocking at the shrine of our tangled bras and panties.

She was something I craved,
an exotic fruit I needed to peel open and savor.

She said, did you know the Mariana Trench
is the deepest part of the ocean?

but I found a greater depth in her
that spilled a sweetness. Oh,

how she thought her mouth a rover
moving across the full of my moons,

she’d mistaken them as planets
worthy of exploration.

She traced the lines of my stretch marks
with her telescope tongue,

giving them names of constellations,
palmed the space of me I thought too big,

planted the flag of her smile on my hips declaring,
A smaller galaxy could not hold as many stars.

I had not known I could be supernova.
I have not been supernova since.

Have not run my fingers through the sand of her
in years, but I swear, sometimes, I can still feel
particles of her in places he could never reach.

 

 

 

 

Talicha J. is an American Poet, Spoken Word Artist and Aspiring Novelist. In 2010 she was a member of the Respect Da Mic Slam team based in Charlotte, NC. Earlier this year she released her debut poetry album, In the Making. Talicha also competed on a national level for the first time at the Women of the World Poetry Slam and the Individual World Poetry Slam this year, ranking among the top 40 and top 30 respectively. She is currently working on her debut book of poetry and planning her first American tour. Her work has appeared in Four Quarters Magazine, Concrete Generation Magazine, and Boston Poetry Magazine.

Cassoday Harder is a twenty-year-old photographer inspired by youth, femininity, and summer. View more of her work on Flickr or visit her website.