Childhood Sensuality

Raspberry cordial,
Thick, honeyed syrup,
No water, coating my tongue
With its cloying seduction.

Glace cherries
Straight from the fridge,
Sticky on my fingers,
Eaten out of sight.

Dancing in nighttime rain,
Naked in the yard,
Cold pinpricks drilling
Through the layers of my skin.

Hidden in a closet,
Smelling violet perfume
Upon black velvet
That lies against my cheek.

Pricking fingertips so gently
With my mother's silver pins,
Running hands through needles
In her sewing drawer.

Smelling sap that's trickling
From the gum tree's bark,
Hugging close the roughness
Pressing hard beneath my hands.