From “Crossdreaming”

By Minal Hajratwala

Whatever its causes, however much we speculate about its connections with other psychological issues, crossdreaming in itself  is a form of sexual stimulation.
—anonymous web user

v. praxis

you do not know me if you graze
my saber & my light
but not the wound I guard.        1 accuses another
of everything but love.        1 demands

cameras, safety whistles, glue
to hold herself together
against the brutal gaze.      we only need
these awkward straps, heat-slick dildos,

Kutchi mirrors, concentric abstract
aurae of this crescent moon
sweeping our bodies w/ cool white
reflected & deflected light

because of what we’ve lost or left
because the language is disaster
because our species has forgotten
acute angles,

triple dream projected
—inner, outer, secret—
on empty, aching
temple walls.        afterward

the residue.      what isn’t conscious
throngs toward the surface:
10,000 joy-and-sorrow fishes
crashing into air.
Source: Poetry (July/August 2019)