I long I’m lode and lobe you the vein
that splits and vessel ripe vesicle bursts
like grape and gape you spread me thin like your spine
fissure I could cleave you I could leave you open.
I say pod for egg case in case of swarming
I’ll call you my locust my locus my lust I loved
you before it was in season.
–
Billie R. Tadros is an assistant professor in the Department of English and Theatre at The University of Scranton. She is the author of three books of poems: The Tree We Planted and Buried You In (Otis Books, 2018), Was Body (Indolent Books, 2020), and Graft Fixation (Gold Wake Press, 2021).