tootsie roll

the wax paper around soft dark candy

beneath my fingers

sweaty, sliding

slipped into my mouth

moving under and around my tongue

a melting tootsie

tootsie roll

or your body there

the night before moving

under my touch

sliding in and out of you

flying there in your salty sweet

my hands down your back

your belly

silky smooth in summer heat and A/C

like candy rolling between my fingers

little rolls in little hands

with recognition years later

at the growth of those hands

up and around my tootsie rolls

the growth of us

up and around each other

the steady slow recognition

of our lives together

and the possibility of eternity

of children with brown candy

drool and wide smiles

and the running through rain

barefoot and wet

with each other’s juice

with each other’s sweet

laughter and angry tears

and the sharing

of a piece of candy

the sharing of a bed

justice in sticky fingers

sugar in the truth of my age

barely a short length of time

but longer and more sensual

than the length

of my 7 year old fingers

around tootsie rolls

holding the slick paper

wondering why the wax doesn’t melt

in the summer’s heat

========== RedWillow ==========