third course -- the meat of the matter

[alasanon]

I put my mouth on you, not on your skin or mouth, but
on the parts of you that are invisible to most

I touch my teeth to your ribs, not biting not gripping
but feeling out the slip and curve -- each one
shaped slightly differently than the one above
than the one below

my tongue sleeks along your lungs, tasting your breath
the texture of your heaving chest from the inside out
spongey tissue warm and dense and strong enough
to pull me out into the world