‘As for me, I produce awkward objects’

               —Alina Szapocznikow
To know her

completely by name—starting

points—friend
of my friend offers by text

lessons in pronunciation

that begin by ‘soft n’: midway
or further still, & annoying,

as though impersonating a bee sound.

Start with lip lamps
at another outset: where breath

might surface—hold between

tongue & palate. There, 
the woman’s head is

pure suggestion—all promise

& easy enough to conjure. Yes,

I’d sometimes like to take off

one half of a face, too: mine

or someone else’s.
This soft relief of leaving

the jaw line, alone—eyes

resting away
from each slide

of gaze, each surface

blazing in impressions,
intimations of softness.

Alina, for her part

compels: ‘Chew well—’