Camembert

Just because you love something doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

I have loved many things, gin and chèvre andMen. I have loved the sun brandished, hot,on my uncensored skin;       the bite of boiled showers and                             old shoes.

I have loved you, your knuckles wound tight as aboa constrictor,      mean as my sister’s laugh.   I have lovedhis height and her eyes and the way her sighs crouchedin her throat,        like a coiled snake weighted to strike.

You would think, in thirty years, I’dlearn to let go of thorned women andspiked men, youwould think, but you’dbe wrong.

My veganism does not extend to love.