You make me wish that I were dead with long
fingers for unzipping your secret, parts

that can sink into you—-deep enough, strong
enough—-to feel your soft corrosion. Quartz,

wolfbane, vervain and ginger root. What weds
all your opiates that have brought others,

girl-child, to their knees like quaking meth heads?
This is my subtle craft—-hexes, philtres,

potions, incantations—-dark love’s mayhem.
I wish that I were dead like you; tucking

your stray hair behind your ear, making safe
sleeping murmurs. Let the tweaker condemn

and crave what it will; we’re dead and living
as one: one dead urchin, one living waif.