Pygmalion’s Ivory Girl

how are you to satisfy / the man who molded you / tell me / how are you to shape your mouth / in all the ways / that his mind had imagined / from the start / how are you to plot out / the dances he expects / how are you to move / throughout the house / without making him frown or flinch / as if he forgot / he asked for this / a particularly shaped girl / animated for him / to keep
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i lay / like my old self / in his bed / too small / i will myself / to breathe quietly / lest i scare him off / with my fleshy lungs / i eat / out of his sight / lest i make him uncomfortable / with my empty insides / gurgling / wanting / fruit that he takes freely / i speak / only when he looks at my lips / lest i make him jump / with my unsculpted voice
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maybe my legs should have stayed marble / maybe he would be happier / if it was only my torso that yielded / underneath his touch / and my lips were warm / but had no tongue to hide / aphrodite / i am unsurprised / was the one who transformed me / what does the goddess of love know / about existing carved / existing ivory / existing a minute / in front of the present / if she knew / she could not / have even looked / at my pedestal
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