1. “The Cinnamon Peeler” by Michael Ondaatje Excerpt:
  2. “Hum for the Bolt” by Jamaal May (the sexiest poem about lightning you’re evah gonna read) Your breasts and shoulders would reek Excerpt:
  3. “Come Slowly- Eden!” by Emily Dickinson crumpling a man struck between spaulder and helm. But now, with the rain making a noisy erasure of this town, it is the flash that arrives Excerpt:
  4. “Warming Her Pearls” by Carol Ann Duffy Excerpt:
  5. “Naming of Parts” by Henry Reed resting in the Yellow Room, contemplating silk or taffeta, which gown tonight? She fans herself whilst I work willingly, my slow heat entering each pearl. Slack on my neck, her rope. Excerpt:
  6. “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” by Billy Collins This is the lower sling swivel. And this Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see, When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel, Which in your case you have not got. The branches Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures, Which in our case we have not got. Excerpt: 7. “The Hush of the Very Good” by Todd Boss And her bonnet, the bow undone with a light forward pull. Excerpt:
  7. Agricultural metaphors run amok. “Putting In the Seed” by Robert Frost to let her kiss him, that the getting, as he gets it, is good. It’s good in the sweetly salty, deeply thirsty was that a sea-fogged rain is good after a summer-long bout of inland drought. Excerpt:
  8. “He is more than a hero” by Sappho Excerpt: And a bonus! A fun, profane, probably-ok-definitely-NSFW Def Jam selection called “Dirty Talk” by Rives: who listens intimately to the sweet murmur of your voice, the enticing Excerpt: