Rose Polenzani Follow

Stubborn as hell, that's what you are.
Stick to your side of the car.
Can you love me with your strings?
With your friends and other pretty things?
Who knows, who knows better than I what I want?
All of my dreams are off jumping the fountains.
I pluck out my teeth as the pearl bed becomes.
I'll love you old if you'll love me young.

Tenacious delight,
the salt on my hands,
and we never make
unruly demands.
I want my wishes back.

We have ways to get back at each other.
The metal rakes on the bridle leather.
Dragging my hair behind harness ears.
You call it mine, and I call it yours.
Sleep where the silver digs into the girl,
step in her separate world.
Love me like a wild, wild riddle,
like the house that I am in the middle.

Tenacious delight,
the salt on my hands,
and we never make
unruly demands.
I want my wishes back.

I am amazed that we've gotten this far.
See, I can love you from my side of the car.
Don't you agree,
a nickname ain't free.
Jealousy hitches the heels of your women,
and slips in my mouth like a wily persimmon,
a sour-metal flavor that ripens my tongue.
Love me, let me be, leave me young.

Tenacious delight,
the salt on my hands,
and we never make
unruly demands.
I want my wishes back.