I Will Take Anyone to Bed (Poetically…

I have made love with Pablo Neruda

On the heights of Machu Picchu

I flashed the tattoo on my thigh

And hitched a lowride with Luis Rodriguez

I have held Adrian Louis close

And danced a wild reservation two-step

Until beer cans and disposable diapers

Spun around us like stars.

I have surrendered to Leonel Rugama’s

Burning adolescent heat

And caressed Roque Dalton

From a luxuriance of bed sheets and red wine.

I stayed up all night reading Sherman Alexie,

Nine months later, I gave birth to twin poems.

This lust is not heterosexual.

I devour Nikki Giovanni and Patricia Smith

Like Sao Tome chocolate.

I have been known to steal away for

An afternoon tryst with Julia de Burgos.

I wrap Nellie Wong around me like a silk robe.

Tonight, I have a date to share a steamy bath

With Linda Hogan and Joy Harjo

And it’s gonna be gooooood . . .

Copyright Credit: Sara Littlecrow-Russell, “I Will Take Anyone to Bed (Poetically Speaking of Course)” from The Secret Powers of Naming. Copyright © 2006 by Sara Littlecrow-Russell. Reprinted by permission of University of Arizona Press.

Source: The Secret Powers of Naming (University of Arizona Press, 2006)