Intimate Affair

Tracing
    from the fingertips on the left,
        down to the wrist,
                    pausing—
                         pressing with light pressure
                                to feel a faint pulse.
                                      Continuing up the forearm,
                                          passing the pit of the elbow,
                                                gliding over the blemishes,
                                                            yet nothing seems to go unnoticed.
                                                                       To the shoulder
                                                                           allowing the nails to scratch away
                                                                                       the protruding bumps.
                                                                                              No immediate pain.
                                                                                                only a reminder from the nerves. 
                                                                                                                            “Keep on moving.”
                                                                                                            Across the torso.
                                                                                                  From the shoulder.
                                                                                           Lay the fly away hairs down and
                                                                                     pull out the stuck ones.
                                                                             Over the pit of the elbow,
                                                                       down the rest of the forearm,
                                                                at the wrist,
                                                        pausing—
                                                pressing with light pressure
                                         to feel a rapid pulse.
                                    Up the fingertips on the right,
                           stop.

The left-hand tilts its fingers to the right,
interlocking—

The right-hand’s fingers twitch,
responding—

Between the two’s pressures,
one’s knuckles will give away.

Sweat forms
in-between the new joint.

The ritual has started.


And when it ends
with forced separation.

One, will go on 
seeking more—

the other, will rest
unresponsive—