Content Warning: body horror

I feel a loving tenderness,
a loving tenderizer,
seep into my body as I gaze into your form
as a tender-hearted warmth floods my bones.

Bones and sinew that have been tenderized
and terrorized by a familiar friend,
a cold so deep, a cold so seductive, it
cannot keep my friend away with a mallet
and a readiness that only the hungriest of
carnivores seeking tendon and marrow enjoy.

But you promise another form of tenderness,
the easing of bone and muscle with a level of
warmth and applied pressure, the beauty
of allowing the motion and lotion to
coat my ligaments and structure.

Tender is the round, short cylinder of your
body. Bitter to taste as you sit on my tongue
awaiting to be washed away inside, only to
release the tenderness I feel, and into a
tenderness of a body ready for release.

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Steven Losco (he/him) is a part-time writer/poet, full-time public health practitioner living in New York City. His poetry is included or forthcoming in Flag Magazine and Micromance Magazine. When he is not writing, he reads thick tomes of epic fantasy and literary fiction, plays video games, and helps run the queer NYC rugby team Gotham Knights. Steven is from Sacramento, CA, trying to both elevate and outrun the city’s creative legacy.

Website: Pansy Magazine