Wires

by Jeana Jorgensen

You worked your hands

into the engine of me:

slick with oil you

massaged my wires,

teased my circuits,

sliding your fingers

with purpose and skill

to rearrange the parts of me

that were malleable,

those that warmed to your touch,

looping currents of desire

into mechanisms that respond

to your touch, your voice,

even after you disentangle

from my insides.

Jeana Jorgensen earned her PhD in folklore from Indiana University. She researches gender and sexuality in fairy tales and fairy-tale retellings, folk narrative more generally, body art, dance, and feminist/queer theory. Her poetry has appeared at Strange Horizons, Nevermore Journal, Liminality, Glittership, and other venues.