Did you ever dream
you were suckling?
I did, once.
A mouth filled
with the breast —
not my mother,
not Gillian:
the breast
A mouth filled,
inner skin
lined with skin,
a mouth, an I,
I, an I,
space filled
with a firm cushion
sealed in by my
wet vacuum,
moulded, changed by my
action
They weaned me at nine
months
Onto a cup
No more wet vacuum
No more
changed by my action
No more
inner skin lined with skin
What a good girl
Look how grown-up our
girl is
After that I sucked my own
thumb
It has a hard centre
It gives no milk
First published in Creatrix 35, December 2016