Fairy-Tales And Other Things Poem by Eila Mahima Jaipaul

Keep me, in a long Russian novel
waiting for you to crack the binding
so I can spring from the pages
into three, four, and five dimensions of life.

This story begins with a kiss,
but there are lions and bears
and glowing moons with orange and blue hues,
for those who don't care for kisses.

Two people walk in a room
with the crazy tension of a stretched rubber band
one looks like a woman
the other a lion
who is fighting to keep
its belly from exploding.

The lion is also trying to be polite
and not say, 'I want you.'
The woman hops like a robin
afraid to look,
but wanting him to take her, recreate her.

And that is what happens.
The rubber band stretches
there is aching in stomachs,
between legs.
Hearts move inside
their rib cages, like birds.

The band pulls out
as far as it can
but then snaps.
And he has her
up against him
with the rushing force
of a hundred eagles,
wind in screams,
crashing forward
being sucked
into mouths,
hands search for soft
skin under shirts
for shoulders
bodies are shy
barely touching.

But they are slowly falling
into each other’s gravity
it is inevitable.
They already know this.