Xandria Phillips

“Want Could Kill Me
Xandria Phillips

for Dominique

I know this



from looking

into store fronts



taste buds voguing

alight from the way



treasure glows

when I imagine


pressing its opulence

into your hand



I want to buy you

a cobalt velvet couch



all your haters’ teeth

strung up like pearls



a cannabis vineyard

and plane tickets



to every island

on earth



but my pockets

are filled with



lint and love alone

touch these inanimate gods



to my eyelids

when you kiss me



linen leather

gator skin silk



satin lace onyx

marble gold ferns



leopard crystal

sandalwood mink



pearl stiletto

matte nails and plush



lips glossed

in my 90s baby saliva



pour the glitter

over my bare skin



I want a lavish life

us in the crook



of a hammock

incensed by romance



the bowerbird will

forgo rest and meals



so he may prim

and anticipate amenity



for his singing lover

call me a gaunt bird



a keeper of altars

shrines to the tactile



how they shine for you

fold your wings



around my shoulders

promise me that



should I drown

in want-made waste



the dress I sink in

will be exquisite”
― Xandria Phillips