Drip-Dry

feeling exposed as mud splatters, the cotton clinging and drenched chattering teeth, seething relief as the sun warms the rancid smile of bulbous peaches pressing, depressing and like an eclipse, a disturbing shadow of unwomanliness. all at once passionate, lusting, learned, yes educated by tongue-filled eyes and lies of squeezing love. tears drip-dry for the milkmaid and the sodden sisterhood. the fun begins, a roundup, but who wins... i stand at a safe distance, heart on full alert, stirring cheers and deathly gaps of shadowplay, snipped cutouts of the soul hung on hangman lines. a story waiting to be told on bar stools. another man leans in looking at her wretched chest rise and fall, fully ready to expose the secrets, pinning them to the ground. and the sun goes up and down. 9/19/2018 First Place Premiere Winner Mid-September 2018 Contest (Brian Strand)