by Jennifer R. Edwards

The texts I want to reread are the ones I must
delete. Desire leaves overwhelming evidence.
There are still ways I’ll never fail you. Honey Do
not make me leave a list. Fail-safe; your proposal,
moving north for me. You didn’t realize Kenny G
did a solo in Katy Perry’s video but recognized Corey
Feldman. He’s coming around here. You should go
appreciate the sax more. I appreciate the sex more.
I don’t think I’ll change into anything
      better.
           What
is more flattering? Every party was the best
ever if we wiped our mouths enough. Well,
we’re staying home. Lyrics are changing now,
our eyes at every orifice. Each cell becomes
a fluid mouth; I make it weird & out loud
above you again.

What about the mitochondria?
You always think, powerhouse.

Jennifer R. Edwards’ Unsymmetrical Body (Finishing Line) was a 2023 Eric Hoffer Poetry Honorable Mention, First Horizon Finalist, and Boston Author’s Club Julia Ward Howe Award Finalist. She received Pushcart and BOTN nominations, NEPC Amy Lowell Prize, Inkwell Writers Alliance contest, and fellowships. Find her poems in anthologies and journals including RHINO, Iron Horse Literary Review, SoFloPoJo, The Shore, Beaver, ELJ, MER, One Art, and Terrain. She’s an MFA candidate at Bennington Writing Seminars. linktr.ee/JenEdwards@JenEdwards8