Swimming
on white china
in a sea of pale gold—

extra virgin
olive oil and garlic,
butter,

naked noodles
like long
tongues

lick the fork,

in the end
curl themselves,
spooning.

Pink pillowy cherrystone
goddesses
birthed in salt

watery tides
and pried, still sleeping,
from steamed beds,

suspended

between tongue
and palate, sigh
and surrender.