slot between the fifth and sixth ribs, its scourged lids/lips probed by Caravaggio, up to the first knuckle, dis- believing . . . But say you plunge in two, three, wedge in four fingers, say its almond-shape admits your unopposable thumb, your avid wrist. Say your whole hand, having entered, grasps a complex clapping . . . As if a set of castanets were at the heart, here and improvising something hot and catchy, full of longing . . . Say your own heart catches on, catches fire, starts clapping back: a burning conversation heart to heart. Say this is death, this in your face flamen- co eye to eye, mouth to mouth. Clap clap . . . Your heels begin to stutter. Please no words. Put a rose between your teeth: this is life. Copyright © Margaret Aho. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by KATHARINE LEE BATES AT THE SAND CREEK BRIDGE by JAMES GALVIN TO WORDSWORTH by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS EN TOUR; A SONG SEQUENCE: 5. THE EXILE by ALBERTA BANCROFT TWILIGHT ON THE DESERT by ETHEL FRANCES BARNARD MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE STAIR by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |