Manucaption
Transmissions by gripping
offered fingers is unlikely –
my communications were
withdrawn [my first act] – I
still do not embrace love’s
limb-strung castings – less
contact is scarring my skin
until I weep in despair – Of
course I could be cured by
intimacy – but paying for a
lover seems to be my auld
way – I bend fingers on one
hand – counting every time
my memory gripped offers
of a held hand – I will never
re-settle for fingerless love
[or any other compromise]