WORD POWER

Can I talk dirty to you?

Let each syllable dribble

into your ear like gravel?

Sibilant and thorny nouns and verbs,

prepositional phrases and declarative sentences,

each one rawer than the last,

my voice gauzy and louche,

like a gossamer gown

that reveals more than it hides

And as your breathing quickens,

my voice will deepen, images

spiraling off my tongue--

a blueprint for your fantasies,

every obscenity making you wetter,

every phrase exacting a moan

until the final verb

bursts forth like a supernova,

rendering both of us speechless