Tonight's Poet Corner: You Slay Me

You Slay Me
by Belinda Roddie

Undress me with your eyes; my clothes
will fall in ashes to the floor. My skin
is stained like the table that you push me
into. You conquer me, dominate me, and do
everything hard and quick, not even
giving me enough time to exhale
before you're out the door, your tail
dragging behind you.

You are a dragon sowing your teeth across
my ribcage. You shed your scales but still
protect your hoard of gold. I see it glittering
against your tongue. You broke off your
incisors biting down on a blade of stone.
The warrior wielding it screamed when you
laughed through the waterfalls of blood.

I have entered your lair more than once, and
it is minimalist, but cold. The portrait of
the charred knight hangs over our heads, a deep
fried corpse in oil on canvas. If you let
your claws get too close, you scratch me easily,
but since your lips already burn me, I cannot
feel the pain - my lungs are cauterized.