• written after tilda swinton’s performance in derek jarman’s edward ii

oh, my eddy, my love,

tomorrow, i am nude-

hearted. a costume

designer dresses

my body in rings

of cubic zirconia.

i am a liar - actually

the costume dept.

blew the budget

on annie lennox,

so my body dresses

itself in your hands.

whom else shall be

the fawn, toddling

silly about my eddy,

my rings of watery

bile? oh, my eddy,

patroclus wept for

hylas. achilles died;

resurrected as a gun.

a bicep. a snare trap.

a taxidermy heart. i

am the prop-woman.

a mouth too small

for my face. annie

belts. a whip smears

my cheek. a montage:

two men tango, a ring

of wellington boots,

an electric piano

tinkles, a duckling’s

shriek, my chicken

feather wedding gown,

my eddy, my rivulets

of tears, my menthol

spray, my spitting chorus

of priests, my varnish-

stained antlers. i’m game.

you fucked me over

your cheapest throne.

now, i am the confetti

cannon, the canon of

huntsmen with diamond

rings for teeth. how

kingly. how camp. two

exiles kiss by campfire.

charred meat. i gorge

myself on hot-pokers.

yes. i am gorgeous.

tomorrow, i am she-

wolf, crossbow etched

into a fawn’s chest. but i

am a poor huntsman. i

am a liar. my eddy, my

wedding ring of vomit,

this is love. love was

never a heart. edward,

my love is that annie

lennox ballad. my love,

it lives in the neck

until it’s your throat

and i swallow it.