Poetry by Nitasia Roland : GLASS AMPOULE

GLASS AMPOULE

Spare me a nickel and a dime
for the slot machine of your body
to pull the lever and count
one by one by one
the winnings of you,
your ribs where the caged dove coos
in a nest of crystal chandeliers
pinging addictingly.

Lay across the velvet playing table
shot with hearts and spades,
diamonds and clubs
and glittering coins
while I trace your knife edge clavicle
with nerve-pulsed fingers
the key to all your locks
set in beats per minute
to your metronome ticking.

The bones of you
squeeze me like a glass ampoule
between forefinger and thumb
breaking me open
spilling my blood of centuries
to gamble the marrow 
of my unknown territories
fairer than fair Verona.

But look,
all lit up like a penny arcade
there’s a wishing well
to toss your pennies into
one by one by one
to fish out my scapula
and make a paddle of it
to row my boat,
or to make a scythe
to sling across my long grass
to part me like a comb
to make a path through me.

I might be down to the felt 
but don’t ask me to curb my return 
against all odds again and again 
for the bones of you
I turn on a dime
and pirouette like
the little wind-up dancer
who haunts the spinning roulette
of my music box.