Lick

Artist: James Jean

My face is peeling-
Can't you see it?- In an act
of discordance,
formerly known as 'despair'.

I tug at the edge and pull down
slowly
as it passes the glasses
with which I hide, and stare.

And over my lips comes a sharp, liquidy
sting
Porous, weak are those things we suck

And licking, slip-- slide-- slip
where within our tongues may dip;
I tenderly touch them once more

as, blindly, I board the breathless ship.