How to Pray in Female

How to Pray in Female

Femininity as Wish-Fulfillment

Sara

teach me how to girl

my fingers pale against your stomach
your boyfriend’s bike     jolts us toward
al-anṣariyyah mountains     in the distance
house lights flicker     like christmas
you find an old roof

you kiss a boy     and i watch
a stolen cousin     a lesson brewing


running beyond the borders
     of cannot

to live through the night i lie
to my father.    to your father
we went on a joywalk    just the two of us

and we let loose

on a dry afternoon
marjuuha swings our girlbodies
you   show me how   to touch
forget the boys   the men
your fingers smell of oranges

zest against the grate
skin the rind
skin the pith
let me eat it