I’m Ashamed to Say It Out Loud
But the scent of blood through denim
is a thick perfume of need, slickening
my other lips. I have no words
to ask for what I want: to coat you
with my filth, then lick it clean.
My belly is bloated with excess
ache, so hot it could melt
the silicone between us. Let me wet
your phantom limb and choke
on my apology. Each touch is a soft
error, a new stain on the comforter,
another bullet point in my list
of embarrassments, but my full mouth
can’t stop begging even though I know
it’s impolite. I’m sorry. My uterus
is too heavy to move. Let’s just lie
here instead.
Kissing the Rose
O dirty secret, puckered aperture,
little well I have whispered my wishes
into, you greet me clenched like a jawbone
on a sleepless night. Quotidian embarrassment,
asterisk to a forbidden paragraph,
I lizard-tongue into your eager heat,
tease the thin membrane between pleasure
and disgust. O beads of sweat bedazzling
your skin, I lap you up until you’re soaked
in salt and brine. Outside, the envious night
dulls its gleaming teeth. I heave my thighs
over your greedy mouth and take my turn.
Ally Ang is a gaysian poet & editor based in Seattle. Their debut poetry collection, Let the Moon Wobble, is forthcoming from Alice James Books in November 2025. Find them at allysonang.com or @TheOceanIsGay.