When We Get Together
we give it up to the drummer
between silences
stroke the mighty bass with our toes
our nipples
crashing
cymbals
ting-ting-ting-ting-tinging
headboard a sweeping piano
we strum the hell out of guitars with elbows composed of love songs
lips double-dipped honey blows the flute
our band plays regularly in the middle of the night
we don’t care who hears the music
–By Margie Shaheed
© 2017 by Margie Shaheed
Love Poem #135
from our bed I watch you rub
peanut oil on your naked brown body
toasted from a hot shower
you tell me the scientist
George Washington Carver
used peanut oil to massage the limbs
of polio patients to help rebuild muscle
I tuck this fact away under the edges of my afro
cuz right now I barely hear you
my temperature’s rising like mercury in August
–By Margie Shaheed
© 2017 by Margie Shaheed
