Before The Thorn Merchant

“The Thorn Merchant sells pain. They are the dealers in human suffering.”
-Yusuf Komunyakaa

I never let men know
my fingers were to thin.
And I didn’t let them know

That my smile could stop
Wives from loving them
The way wide legs can

Stop dust from settling.
And when I wore red
I could almost see when

Masculine minds moved
From floury aprons to the
Scarlet sway of my behind,

pulling them along
with the rope of indulgence,
letting their hands burn.

Until he cut them loose
and bit my finger
and told me, “I know.”