To Applause

“for someone in love with words,
it amazes me how fast you can move
to be free of them” ~James

Having been accused
in the past of lying,
she is mute.
Now, she repeats
certain movements all day,
etching each moment into
the musculature of her
body as proof.

He admires her form.
He writes to her of it, in angular words.
She places the softly crumpled sheets
of paper over her body
and strikes a match.

In each moment she still feels
the hundreds of fingertips
which have explored her histories,
only to become them.

He asks her questions
of corruption
and tenderness.
There are no answers.

He will come to understand
dissolution as she traces
each vertebrae of his spine
with her tongue.

With each calm stroke
warmly welcomed,
she smiles and gifts him
the strength to leave her.