Salve for her heat,
“â¦where I kiss the spots white powder missed.”
Accelerates her breath,
“â¦my tongue as your washcloth, wiping you clean.”
Makes her shake,
“â¦swallowing toes and fingers while inserting myself into you.”
She moans. She trembles. She squeezes wetness dry. She relaxes her thighs. She gets up to wipe off. She puts on fresh lace panties. They tickle.
The voice interrupts, “Baby, you know I'm mad at your bra for getting to palm a hand full of soft flesh. I'm jealous of your panties, smelling your scent all day long. Baby?”
“Yes,” she answers weakly from the shutter of the first mini-pulse that vibrates between vulva lips, with more to come.
“Pick up the phone, put it down there, let me kiss her good-bye.”
Trembling fingers lift the receiver. With one hand she places the phone down till it brushes the lace of her panties that lightly kisses her hairs. The other hand adjusts the volume until she hears a smack from puckered lips and the words, “Daddy'll see you soon and when we finally meet I promise I'll treat you right and do you good. Now let me speak to your mama.”
Hearing this, she brings the receiver to her mouth, listens for the same smack from puckered lips directed toward the ones she speaks with, says, “I'm going to be late, again.”
Hears the words, “But how do you feel?”
“Real good.”
“Alrighty, then. Have a good day, baby, I'll talk to you tonight.”
Â
Eleven P.M. The phone rings once, the second ring interrupted by, “What took you so long?”
“Anticipation is the root of desire. So what'cha wearing?”
She lies and says, “Nothing,” so that the voice can keep saying something. All the while removing her underwear as the voice talks.
“Did you think about me today?” in a tone silky-creamy, like sherbet.
“Yes.”
“How do I know?”
Propping herself up on one arm, extending the other to run her red nails up and down her thigh, says, “ 'Cause I went through four panty shields today and I'm not being visited by my red friend.”
A short breath, inhaled before she exhaled words, says, “Oh yeah? Why is that?”
And she starts with the meeting at ten A.M. and the smell of natural herbal deodorant mixing with the scent of Mambo or women, trickling through her blouse as she stood at the easel board, losing her train of thought, 'cause a breeze from the window made her think of a nose once nuzzling there, stopping to lick her lips, remembered that she was not alone in a room with a bed, a phone, and a voice, then smiled at the office full of ten men who watched her do her corporate thang and had them eating out of her hand before they signed on the dotted line for ten mil.
Excusing herself after the closing conquest, rushing to the bathroom. One pad down.
Inhale twice this time, unsteady words, “Damn, ba-by, you, ah, wore, ah, them out.”
“I'm not finished,” she continued. “My baby powder felt like your breathing on my stomach, whispering in my navel. The lotion that kept my body glowing, left residue of your finger imprints every place you touched me this morning, silky braille words tattooed on my body.”
Staccato short breaths, words matching their beat, “That'sit-, ba-by, you- know- what- I- like.”
Red nails slip between tight thighs and spread open wet lips, she finishes, “My bra was your two hands cupping my breasts, caressing my thoughts and their softness into erection all day. The cotton middle of my panties perspired, two, then three shields gone, 'cause your tongue brushed softly against my hairs, and your voice echoed secrets in its mouth that only you two knew about. And every time I got up to walk, lips and thighs met âwishful thinking' yours, 'cause you are so greedy, kissing through the lace, straining to feel finger, touch tongue, know you. Needing to conduct meetings from behind my desk with legs crossed, 'cause standing up made me drip and I only had one shield left in case of an emergencyâ¦.”
Red fingers push deep inside herself, “wishful thinking” hers, the distance between them narrowing. The voice in her ear vibrates along her neckâ¦.
“Yes, Mami, you know what to say, what else?”
“As I drove home, it started to rain. And I was back in the shower with a bar of soap, a rag, and you. Kisses dripping in my hair, on my face, down my back.” She hears her own voice purr, “Papi?”
“I'm with you, Mami.”
“A sudsy cloth cleansing sensitive neck and erect breasts, once-perfumed stomach, and scented fresh sacred spots.”
Deeper plunges, no longer “wishful thinking” hers, red fingersâhers, the voiceâhers, the wetnessâtheirs, together.
“Rain became shower, clothes became towel, soap became tongue and hands, and I could not drive any more. I pulled into somebody else's driveway, pressed the button to let my seat back, shifted the gear to park, pulled my skirt above my hips, spread my legs wide, pushed aside drenched panties and third shield, there would be no fourth, and I let you love meâ¦.”
“Say it again, baby,” the voice matching her rhythm.
“I let you love me.”
In a whispered command, “Say it like you mean it.”
“I let you lovvvvvve mmeeee!!”
Their trembles meet at the exhale of moans and heaved breaths.
“Yes, Mami, that's it, I love you.”
There are no words, just bodies and escaped sighs separated by wire.
Funky Ride
Janeé Bolden
Â
Â
Â
Â
I'm high when I do it. When I put the CD in the disc player, select track eleven, and then hit REPEAT. Sound hits the ceiling and the floors, floods the walls, this gentle
drip-drop
beat suggesting something illicit and delicious. Outside these windows are urban noises, children playing, bottles breaking, alarms, sirens, ghetto blasters, and hi-fi car stereos. I'm not thinking about what's outside, what's out in that dark dotted by stars, headlights, and streetlamps. What I'm thinking about is inside, is you; is damned fine, dark chocolate and waiting to be pleased by me.
I want to treat you, so slowly I slip between your legs. Undressing you where before I have been too passive. I take a moment to indulge in the sight of you in shorts. You are naked from the waist up, a body that is neither young boy nor man, but something in between. There isn't a hair on your chest. The nipples are chocolate-cherry colored, standing erect, waiting for me to kiss them. I slide my hands over your smooth shoulders and back, so hungry for you that even as I lick one nipple after the other I am making my way
back up for your neck. Which is where you begin to dissolve.
See, I'm still fully dressed, and where you've let me take the lead so far, now things are different. You allowed me to move slowly, to let me follow the slow dragâso high, so hornyârhythm of this song. But now I touched your spot, I licked it, I sucked it, and you are open and ready. You don't bother to unbutton my blouse. You yank, you pull, you tear. And even though that blouse cost good money, I'm not mad. I'm turned on. I am wet and you hardly even touched me.
The song keeps reminding me of my initial purpose. I'm here to ride you. You are here to be ridden. My skirt hits the floor, a puddle of fabric at the foot of the bed. My panties follow suit. And then I place my palms flat against your hips, rolling your shorts down, until they get tangled at your ankles. While you are bending over to free your legs I am leaning in to kiss you between your thighs. To the part of you that listens when I say, “I love you.” To the part that loves me back.
I close my eyes, find myself soaking in the lyrics, relaxed by the gentle melody, I'm high on this music and eager for sex.
There isn't anything I'd rather be doing, or anywhere I'd rather be,
I think, enjoying the feeling of your penis gliding back and forth past the sensitive part of my lips. This slow stroking of my tongue against your cock, your cock stroking my mouth. My lips, my tongue receiving you and at the same time giving back, all of this is wrapped up in the rhythm of this song, in the rhythm of our bodies. These strokes are foreshadowing the lovemaking that is still to come. I pull forward and back again, daring you, enticing you, raising your excitement another notch. My tongue dancing to this funky lullaby, I open my eyes to watch you. Your eyes are closed and your mouth is open in a small soft
oh
. I brush my fingertips lightly up and down your arms and legs, stimulating the little nerves that I know lie beneath your skin.
You run your hands through my thick, curly hair, stopping
to rub the back of my neck. Then you pull away. It's my turn. You take my hand and we move to the bed.
“Lie down,” you command, pointing to the bed. Obediently I lie down, moving my ass closer and closer to the foot until you stop me by grabbing my ankles.
“Right there, baby,” you growl. “I gotcha.”
“Yes,” I whisper, anticipating your touch.
I lean my head back into the mattress, closing my eyes, letting the drunken beat invade my thoughts. The song is nearing its end for the third time, the baritone giving way to a woman's high wails. The words
nocturnal hymn
come to mind. Night holy music. There is something sacred in this moment, in any moment when nothing feels as good as giving someone else as much pleasure as possible. It is the furthest thing from selfish. Giving. Receiving. Giving back again. Now it feels good to be getting. To have your tongue flicking my clit firmly like that little tinkering in the music. A light touch that is anything but delicate. There is tremendous power in your tongue. The song has started over but I am remembering that woman's moans. I am feeling her joy now, the intensity building, the climax approaching. My love comes flooding down, rushing out, just like that song, out against your chin and the sheets. That is the signal.
You can't wait to get inside. All along, that's what we've both been waiting for. The sweetest moment is always just as you begin to enter, when we are both wondering what it's going to feel like. How wet is it. How juicy. And as you sink into my pussy, my walls latch on as tightly as we both can bear. Sugar walls, you call them. And we have a million names for this moment. And a million names for my pussy. That fat rabbit. The golden glove. Jamaicaâcuz it's the place you always cum to. And you always like to call it your pussy. To claim it. To declare ownership. You want me to say that my pussy belongs to you, just like I own your dick.
I was high on weed and Cuba libres when all this shit got started. This damned song over and over. And this is my favorite song, just like you are my favorite man, and sex is my favorite moment. And I start thinking tripped-out things while you're up in this pussy. Things like how our fucking is another high. How one moment I'm so wrapped up in my pleasure, in my rapture, and the next moment I'm paranoid that it will all be over way too soon. Thinking how just like with Ecstasy, one minute I'm in hyper-heaven loving all the stimulus in the world and the next I am blissed out on relaxation. It seems a miracle that such a simple motionâin and out, circles along my sugar wallsâand each touch makes me feel some sort of joy. Amazing that just as you are touching me, your nerves touch my nerves and they all set each other off. You got me feeling good and I got you feeling the same way.
My love will not dry up on you. This song won't stop until we hit the button, and I will keep on riding until we are both too exhausted to move. And even then, after you've made those funny little noises that you make when you comeâ¦after you shudder against me, and I feel your liquid spurtâ¦even after all of that, we still keep on going, relive that sex until we fall asleep. And even when we're sleeping we have dreams about it. Sleeping, I still feel your teeth on my nipple. I still feel the satin-soft feel of your skin against my fingertips. You still feel my pussy clenching on your dick. Our lovemaking is like that.
I like how when we finally decide to stop, you lie on your back, bare-chested, that little bit of moonlight shining on your dark skin, and you watch me walk around the room naked. I like how your eyes follow me as I walk to each of the candles and blow them out. How when I hit the STOP button on the stereo your eyes are still following me, beckoning me back to the bed. Back to you, so that we can roll in balls
around each other. So that you can wipe the tiny drops of your sweat from my shoulders.
We sleep with my left hand stroking your soft round ass and your right hand tangled in my curls. We sleep and we dream about all that we've done, and we add and subtract things we forgot to do, or things we shouldn't have done. We're both smiling as we sleep, because we know what will come next when all this dreaming and imagining resurfaces in the next funky ride.
The Warehouse
Jamyla Bennu
Â
Â
Â
Â
Getting settled took up most of my energy that first month I was in New Mexico. I found an inexpensive efficiency in a complex with a pool and spent my first couple of weeks, plus a large sum of my fellowship money, ordering and shipping my supplies. I'd settled into a work-rhythm I liked, but was already outgrowing the capabilities allowed by my limited space.
Any efficiency is “cozy” as a place to live, but when you start including sculptural/photographic installation work in the floor plan, a desert paradise for one moves rather quickly toward “dangerously claustrophobic, oven-hot nightmare.” I had to find a studio, and fast. I'd put out a couple of feelers about studio rental: hung posters in cafés, inquired around at the colleges, answered a couple of ads. So far, nothing, but I was trying to be patient.