Two poems by Jaime Speed

Insmonia (1)

I wanted you
tall and lean
the tapered architecture
of your torso
moulded in clay
and turpentine
I wanted the dandelion coloured stain
between your fingertips
to know my mouth
to call the taste of you home

I wanted you to have an appetite
for steak and little tits
Built Ford Tough with the thighs
and pained hairline
of a rebel cowboy
carrying dirt in your nail beds
like the weight of your absence
an ever-present homage
to the cracked archeology of your ancestry
your long-buried pedigree

Every whiff of warm whiskey
pats me down like a criminal
revives the skinny somnambulist
that wanted you spastic,
whistling off-key, I wanted you
trembling hands and exposed
zippers, forfeiting buckles
I wanted you panting at dreams
your long arms up, slipping
into unconsciousness
after years of sleeplessness
I wake in spasms, pussy clenching
clutching at ghosts

on the rocks

Jaime Speed earned an MA in English in the same place she lives, works, and plays: Saskatchewan, Canada. She enjoys reading, gardening, throwing weights, and dancing badly. Jaime has recently been published in The Rat’s Ass Review, Dear Loneliness Project, and Hobo Camp Review, with work forthcoming in Psaltery & Lyre.