How ugly I’ve grown

into a forgetfulness. I’ve lost my manners
because drought has taken all the glassware
from my cupboard and I can’t gesture water.
But love, if you want to go
wild in the china shop
of my body, do.
I warn you, I am an idiot
at touch. You don’t believe me—
look at the hydrangeas. They’re so blue.

Carly Joy Miller's work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, Blackbird, Boston Review, Gulf Coast, Third Coast, and elsewhere. She has been nominated for a Pushcart and was a finalist for the Stadler Fellowship. She is a contributing editor for Poetry International and a founding editor of Locked Horn Press.