You can be hurt
because you want too much;
because in your face it says:
love me, nurture me;
because in your teeth it says:
sugar flows to us;
because in your tongue it says:
drive in the spike.

You can be hurt
because you care too much
because your ribs swing out like shutters
& your heart
glows like a night light.

You can be hurt
because you need too much
because your skin comes off in streamers
& your veins
twang like guitar strings.
You can be hurt that way.

You made your head
a wind tunnel for death.
You made your womb
the world's confessional.
You made your heart
a lump of burning clay.

You, me--
we can be hurt that way.

© Erica Mann Jong

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