Dry
The curled grey hairs on my chest
are wrapped in a heavy gown
and hidden along with my old sags
Now I can negotiate the stairs
without forcing the shame of my flesh
upon any other eyes on that journey
The verges are the most obvious victims
of this summer’s unending dry torture –
as the skin on my legs flake with the heat
but then blister into zits under the rubbed oil
that I self-prescribe to calm my cruel itch
from which there is no natural relief
I lay on the bed – I wait for my tea to cool
as my stretched out bared legs prickle
and call for rape under my scraping nails