Only If
By DeLana Dameron

If windy nights in
that blustering city
 
are unbearable and you find
work is not worth walking solo;
 
if you need the surety
of relentless kudzu
 
spreading miles along
country highways
 
and my musk scent has
lifted from my lace
 
negligee you took
because you needed
 
to remember why you're
there;
 
if the salt-cured ham glazed
with honey is no longer
 
my sweet sweat on your
tongue and your fingertips
 
forget journeys along my
forever hips;
 
if you can find someone
to stew you neck bones and
 
when after a search for every
remnant of flesh your lips
 
covet the straight lines
of my neck
 
then, come back
come back home.

Copyright © DeLana Dameron. Published in 42opus (Vol 6 #4); used with the permission of the author.

Photo credit: Aracelis Girmay

DeLana Dameron, a native of Columbia, SC spends her days in Chapel Hill, North Carolina translating the world around her—forever trying to marry the historical and the literary. She is a member of the Carolina African American Writer's Collective. Her work has been published online as well as in print including 42opus, The Drunken Boat, Cellar Door, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, and other journals and anthologies. received her M.F.A from The University of Washington and currently teaches English at Seattle Academy of Arts & Sciences. She has worked at Antioch University, Seattle Central Community College and works as a writer in residence with Seattle Arts & Lecture. Her writing has appeared in The Seattle Review, CALYX, and Catalyst.