I once accompanied a woman
I loved and lived with
to her college sorority reunion.
It was a cold evening.
I wore my favorite coat

Tis smotherin’ under these stones
but me conscience suffocates me worse.

Travelin’ nights with the weight still on me chest.
I should have kept me mouth shut, Martha,

Last week I discovered it’s hard to say
I love human skin without a lot of weird looks
and party guests pulling sweaters
over shoulders even in too hot rooms.
It’s hard to be cool at parties.

One pithy Oscar-Wilde-reading
swimmer on the online dating site
I like to dive into from time to time
with my underwater harpoon gun
said instead of endless writing
back and forth, it would be far more
efficient to let the chemistry decide
right away, face-to-face.

1) I don’t like biting into watermelons. It reminds me of sex. But in a bad way.