Tuesday Poem: Waist Beads

Lover says her waist beads are tight,
she needs them taken off

I, mischief maker,
muse about ways waist beads
may come off:

1. Shift beads cephalad,
watch it slide on her ebony skin
above her umbilicus towards
the swell of her breasts with tact
& a silent prayer that it doesn’t tangle
with her natural hair.

2. Let it go the way of gravity,
let the ornamental cinch inch down
her waist, her rubbery thighs,
down
down
down
till it hits the ground.

3. Say a prayer
& with the unrehearsed
violence of two hands,
let all the beads leap
to the floor