Alice Walker: I'm really very fond

I’m really very fond of you,
he said.
I don’t like fond.
It sounds like something
you would tell a dog.
Give me love,
or nothing.
Throw your fond in a pond,
I said.
But what I felt for him

was also warm, frisky,
moist-mouthed,
eager,
and could swim away
if forced to do so.