i gather fangs like promises
fold them beneath my flesh where its
most tender: the crooks of elbows, the
petal curve where breast meets
rib, the teardrops of my earlobes
swallow stars down the empire of
my throat for safekeeping
press fingertips to my belly to
feel their heat like kisses and
cuts and memories of near-death
braid garnets through my
hair where they sip moon
light and sprout serpents
scaled in water, shrouded in spider
silk, velvet mouths spilling ichor.
