a sturdy base
some sour grapes
a binding wire

Let your man push
in the wire. Don't
be afraid to fear
and he will love
you bigger than
the smell of cantaloupe.

We never had a sturdy
base but he would split
a peach for show
every now and then.
Fat indifferent scuppernongs
slicked his lips like a sore.

Centerpieces.
Center parts.

Arrangements made
and disarrayed
'till he's left
holding the wire.

Right then he started
lifting me higher
than the fruit,
himself, his house,
the street lamps and telephone
wires he knows
I'll never call him on.
Up until my cold
actual blurred in the clouds.
Up until I warmed and vanished
into what he always wanted
to make me.