Stay A While

let me steal the autumn red and paint my cheeks with it like a fading maple waiting for frost. find me beside the river on cool, green moss. in the shade I’ll lie until plump slugs find my muted body and seek respite along my fine-haired shores. i let them leave their gleaming trails across my timid skin, following each path of indifference from freckle to stretch mark and back again. i stay until the moon rises, that pale dot amid slate blue sky. we wane together, abandoning our forms each night until she says, let’s become new. when i look down, i see that the slugs and worms are not yet satisfied. beside me, the river slurries along the bank, succumbing to the frigid season. i decide to stay a while.

– AJ Wilcox