Ashiatsu in the Bedroom
How much do you weigh? Come,
walk on my back. You treat me like a child,
a Thai prostitute, Buddhist monk,
all the above—and I love it,
the sense of precariousness, one slip and I fall
like a delicate vase, already cracked and chipped
with age and mistakes but for now radiating
pure lightness, my white feet pressing firm
into the creamed brown hide of your back.
One pound less and I’d vanish,
one pound more and you’d crumble.
My worth is weighed in ounces, your wants
by the ton.
Jessica Mehta is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and multi-award-winning poet and author. Her book Selected Poems 2000 – 2020 received the Meadowlark Prize for 2020. Learn more at www.thischerokeerose.com.
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