(We Play With Serious Faces)

My fingers in your hair,

A hard pull in my direction

Your breath, relief and excitement

Like a drug

As your eyes grow wide

The slap then the sting in my palm

The sign that it’s been done right

As your skin flushes from pale to pink to red

Disobey me, fight me so that I can see

How far you can go without leaving this room

Test me because you’ve ached for someone

With hands that aren’t dipped in tedium

Who knows that you aren’t some fragile

Piece of mother’s porcelain.

If you were, you’d hand it to me and

Tell me to throw it to the ground.

You want to be gently broken,

So that you come back stronger.

And I will put you together

So that you were more beautiful

Than when you came in

And fuck, you were already beautiful.