A Sonnet to Shakespeare / Salmonella Mouths

lips-light-effect-cropped

by Christy Bailes

A Sonnet to Shakespeare

If I be your mistress, hand me the sun;
let my red lips leave a kiss on your skin.
If I be snow, touch my sweet cherry breasts,
crisp delicacies for you to taste.
If wires be rough on your scratchy face;
let them catch on my shiny, golden hair,
falling over delicious apple cheeks.
If your breath be reeking, take mine in yours
until ocean mist sprays our coral mouths.
If I play clarinet, move my thin hips
to pastoral songs as sweet as my voice
that whisper my body into your ear.
And yet, you are not blinded by true love,
if you were, you’d think hot my beauty be.

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Salmonella Mouths

When words fall in
my chicken skin,
I count verbs, then
nouns, until a million
sentence cloves

dress my artist bird
for feast, with their
salmonella mouths
licking nearby
to eat word gristle,

once draped with
American feathers
that hid a million
quills, jabbing words in
my chicken skin.

Category: Poetry, SNHU Creative Writing, SNHU online creative writing, SNHU Student