or in something else’s mouth. The musk

of a shrew in a snake’s jaw.

The scales
of a snake under the bobcat’s fangs.

The polio vaccine-saturated sugar

cube melting away
in a kid’s mouth. What glee, to receive,

on a six-faced, twelve-edged

convex polyhedron, sweetness,
not a needle in the ass. A fat

lie on the lips of the skinny minister.

Candy on Candy
Darling’s tongue. The stick

of a Blow Pop wedged in the gap

between her teeth as she walked in her tall
heels into the DeVern School of Cosmetology. So

young,

on her deathbed. Oh,
her hair matched the yellow-white

pillow, and in her mouth,

a marshmallow.