In Love with the Nymphomaniac

We're Living In A Society

Advanced Civilization

Haunted by Carnality
 
 
In Love with the Nymphomaniac

I met the nymphomaniac
in New Orleans
standing in the unnatural light
coming off the stage
at Tipitino’s.  She had purple
eyes.  She took hold
of me like a ragdoll and shook
the bugs out of my
dormant system.  Afterwards,
in the silvery morning
light of the motel room, she
mounted me again.
“This time,” she said, “this time
is for you.”
I fell in love with the nymphomaniac.
I never saw her again.
The wound she gave me,
the wound in my thigh, is immutable.
I wear it like a fucking badge.

We’re Living in a Society

They kicked him up the sidewalk
until his head rested on the
courthouse steps.  There they left
him for the magistrates to find.
It’s the governor’s new get-tough
policy for the homeless.  Some
of us, in the neighborhoods, are
really hopeful.  It’s been so quiet lately.

Advanced Civilization
 
We use language.
It’s a tool.
We solve problems.
In the interstices
we take
each other by the loose
parts and
shake.  This we some-
times call Love.
Language fails.
We learn.
And where we’re soft
we grow
a carapace.
And shut down.
Like a
light
going
out.
 
Haunted by Carnality
 
She took her shirt off
in front of me
as provocation.
Her breasts were incarnations
of desire
but I knew this wasn’t about
desire.  Even
as I watched her there grew
in me
a wariness I have to this day.
Lovers, I am sorry.
A ghost hovers between us,
a sad revenant
with the tits of an angel.
 

2004 1-42 Online