Sara Hughes

A Simile for His Name

Just as whiskey
takes the shape
of a hip flask,
his name
takes the shape
of my mouth,
the brown honey
of each syllable
lingering
on my tongue,
and the risk I take
holding it in,
and the risk I take
spitting it out,
turn his name
to liquid fire,
a dark desire
igniting my throat.

Sara Pirkle Hughes is a Southern poet, an identical twin, a breast cancer survivor, and a university instructor living in Macon, Georgia.  http://www.saraphughes.com/