Lara Egger

Delivery by Mouth

Most weeks I’m accordion but I’d prefer to be harmonica.
My body language is easier to read with the lights turned off.
Accord and harmony are synonyms
for the parts of speech that leave a lump in my throat.
At the dinner party someone says,
Sorry for all this talk about pregnancy.
Wolves are in the water. Wolves are in the water
so the water better learn how to swim.

Sometimes my dreams are magic acts where everyone
ends up naked. No one loves a good seduction more than me.
Don’t worry. My tragedy is unsinkable, and I still
have plenty of tickets. At what age is it too late
to take up piano? A dream is both a noun and a verb,
a skylight in a nightclub, an orgasm on buttered toast.
Here are my sequins: catch them. Here is my fender-bender

heart. Last night I dreamed I delivered
a still-born by mouth. I’m more or less as happy as you.