i fell in love first
with the back of your neck

snaked my hands
over the skin, shedding

your
dead cells

into my lap to
dust later

i found first
a spiral,
enveloped, a
place formed around me
like bone

learned later
of crushing, the
purpose of bodies,

and of constricting,

the purpose
of snakes

Filed under: poems Tagged: loyalty, poem, poetry, skin, snakes, trust