12 BODY LANGUAGE | M.G. LEIBOWITZ
M.G. LEIBOWITZ lives in New
York, New York. Her poetry has
recently appeared in Boxcar
Poetry Review, Crab Creek
Review, Foundry, and The
Journal. She is the recipient
of CALYX Journal’s 2016 Lois
Cranston Memorial Poetry
Prize, the 2018 Geballe Prize
for Writing, and the 2018
Urmy/Hardy Poetry Prize.i.
Tell me what you want. Tell me what feels good.
I press my face against his shoulder and go very still. I know what I
want, but even in my head, the words don’t form, don’t gather as they
usually do—ripely, readily.
I open my mouth. Close it. Say, I—
He strokes my back, gently.
I—
I close my mouth and lean back on the bed. I am quiet.
He touches my cheek, eyes searching. He bends over me. Do you like it
when I kiss your nipples?
A shudder, almost a horror, runs through me at the sound of the word.
Also, admiration: he doesn’t stumble, doesn’t stutter. He swims through
the word, the language, as though he has been taught not to feel shame.
Ye s, I say.
He kisses me. Do you like it when I kiss your neck?
Most of the time.
He kisses me. Do you like it when I kiss your ears?
No.
He laughs.
Later, in a moment of extreme bravery, I tell him, That feels good.
This?
I close my eyes. Ye s.M.G. LEIBOWITZ
WINNER! Body Language
Best Essay
Prize