“The Blind Stirring of Love” by Jean Valentine:
I rub my hands my cheeks
with oil my breasts
I bathe my genitals, my feet
leaf and barkredden my mouth to
draw down your mouth
and all along
you have been inside me
streaming
unforsakenness . . .
(From Door in the Mountain: New and Selected Poems, 1965-2003 © 2004 by Jean Valentine. Used by permission of Wesleyan University Press. Photo by Takumi Yoshida)
The Dish 