Fear of immobility of a joint

Locked here, I'm loch-jawed: a Nessie of

tetanus. Unhook me, unhinge me, this

liquid imprisonment. Taciturn

elbow, mulish talocrural, my

stubbornest joint is submerged in your

tallow. This candle, this window, you

squirm like a minnow, repeat like an

echo, arthritic libido. I'm

caught. I'm unmovable. Abjectly

literal. You? Irresistible

force meeting object, we forge into

junction—one tongue in one groove, and we

fit, ad infinitum. Limit my

movement. I'll ease your impediment.

Jessica Piazza is the Founding Editor of Bat City Review and Co-Founder of the Speakeasy Poetry Series in Manhattan. A PhD candidate in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California, her poems appear in AGNI, Indiana Review, No Tell Motel, and others.