grammatolatry

Cover your arms.
Don’t let your elbows
show.

That’s what my neighbors
down in Alabama tell
their daughters
so no elbow
plump or thin
tan or pink
will entice others
to passion.

But if I thought
my scrawny, two-toned
elbows would lure you

if I thought
my skinny, sharp-boned
elbows could secure you

I’d flap my arms
like a chicken
like a pea-fowl
like a guinea hen

when next I saw you
honey
I’d roll
up my sleeves and
sin
sin
sin.