AROUND AGAIN

most of those vain
vagabond bombshells i chased in

youth wanted nothing to do

with my abstruse poetry,

its pimpled pain. now older,

shelled by the abuse

of less sensitive men, here 

they come around again.

ANIMAL NATURE

the first people you made out with

were defined almost wholly

by willingness – their hungry mouths and yours,

blessed, holy “whores” who pulled your

sexuality loose from its moorings, attacked

the mysteries of the body

and the boredom of religion.

you feared them then, for sure,

until years later you thanked God

they accosted you first, helped you over-

come your worst fears

and regain your lost,

innocent animal

nature.

(image courtesy of Ryan McGuire)