The Open Mouth of the Vase by Amy Ash

From Cider House Press, 2013.  Raw and strong.  Buy here.

From "For Jim"

I always thought I'd see you naked / for the first time after a party, perhaps. / Gently drunk, I would awaken, / the hairs of your chest moving / under my breath.  But it didn't happen // that way.  I got there just after / the ambulance arrived . . .

From "He Said Come-On"

. . . I wanted so much / to be the word beneath his tongue. . . / The left blinker pulsing / like a heartbeat, cracked and hanging, / barely holding on.