sex

then, but as I built my courage up
he stiffened.

And I threw
my heart into the act, as one

who plows the earth with spite for it,
his anger lightening his labor, that

the ground break open for
his putting in the seed. I will not
lie fallow always though

my body rot.

—the thick
warmth running in my mouth like
bitter salt dissolved in water,

like the ocean beautiful
though full of bloated fish.”

Allen Edwin Butt, "If Briefly"