Pillow Talk
Artwork: Rachel Kang | @rachelkaang
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This poem was originally published in UTS 2020 Writers’ Anthology: Empty Sky. Check it out here.
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what’s better than clean sheets?
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you whisper,
as creamy trains
follow us from the laundry.
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crisp, papery linen,
fresh-from-the-line,
wrapped neatly
over foamy corners.
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we flatten the crinkled mess —
smooth saturday’s sunbake
from linen pores.
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catch glimpses of you
between air-strewn sheets;
pearly teeth
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and milky skin —
you glitter
in wafer-thin billows.
we sink our faces
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into chubby cushions —
flesh enmeshed;
a cotton complexion
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you roll around in it —
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kittenish, tumbling,
dryer-like,
on satin pillow slips
and faux fur throws
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you lie there for a moment;
a regal adornment
of pale plush —
goddess of lush
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dust dances now,
on blind-dashed glimmers,
a dazzling duet
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of airborne fibres
wafted by the soft crunch of
our goose feather quilt
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we live,
for a moment,
in that dust flecked lustre
of last year’s polaroids.
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tonight,
we’ll fold new creases,
you’ll whisper in your sleep:
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what’s better than clean sheets?
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I brush lint from your lips,
nothing.