For Amanda Shelton, Simply Irresistible (1999)
You pour
the flour. Click
the heat. Serve.
And the room
is an hourglass.
And the people
are a flood
of silence. Agape.
Your hair
is red. Mine
is being lost.
I am a hundred
waves burying
my own voice
but the witch
in my bones
elevates me
above this
eternally wet
desert and wipes
my face clean
of its waterfall
as the witch
in your bones
floats
your feet
into the oblivion
of your own
desire.
I am my
own cauldron. I
the bath
of my body.
“Aren’t you 29?”
Aww, thanks,
but no
I am
the phoenix
and the phoenix
is dust
years old.
Once someone
told me I
was beautiful
then sprayed
perfume
in my face.
A sample.
On commission.
Paper airplane
in my hair.
Meanwhile, you
wag your finger
in the perfume aisle
and he comes,
beautiful
his fingers
in his
belt loops.
What is
the recipe
for salvation?
The beak
of me scrawls
its torch
across your menu.
You can use
my dust
in your
next meal. I
can be part
confection. Drop
me into
the cauldron.
Men will
eat me
like air.
But I
will rise
and rise
again.
You pour
the flour. Click
the heat. Serve.
And the room
is an hourglass.
And the people
are a flood
of silence. Agape.
Your hair
is red. Mine
is being lost.
I am a hundred
waves burying
my own voice
but the witch
in my bones
elevates me
above this
eternally wet
desert and wipes
my face clean
of its waterfall
as the witch
in your bones
floats
your feet
into the oblivion
of your own
desire.
I am my
own cauldron. I
the bath
of my body.
“Aren’t you 29?”
Aww, thanks,
but no
I am
the phoenix
and the phoenix
is dust
years old.
Once someone
told me I
was beautiful
then sprayed
perfume
in my face.
A sample.
On commission.
Paper airplane
in my hair.
Meanwhile, you
wag your finger
in the perfume aisle
and he comes,
beautiful
his fingers
in his
belt loops.
What is
the recipe
for salvation?
The beak
of me scrawls
its torch
across your menu.
You can use
my dust
in your
next meal. I
can be part
confection. Drop
me into
the cauldron.
Men will
eat me
like air.
But I
will rise
and rise
again.
Erik Fuhrer is the author of 6 books of poetry, including Eye, Apocalypse (Spuyten Duyvil, 2021). This poem is from a collection of poems dedicated to the work of Sarah Michelle Gellar. Erik can be found on Instagram @erikjfuhrer and at erik-fuhrer.com.