you and i lie naked
waking still touching
holding folding one another
in the safety of our place
in the place of our safety
in love
grace
and we neither want
to move
nor speak
but only feel
and sleep
none of the above
is true nor anything
below i wrote this down
the lab after taking too much
tea and yet i really wouldn't
have it differently
you see i
can't forget
the way you laughed
at how i coughed
on my first post-
coital cigarette
eve and i would have got along fine
drinking cups of tea
staying up late
and talking about
philosophy and poetry
geometry and cookery
(round about three
i'd have gone for a pee)
psychology and symmetry
anatomy and probably
quite a lot about sex
but though we'd
ponder gravity
we
wouldn't drop those
apples from that
tree
i'd say
why did god
give me this?
i guess he was
probably
taking the piss
and eve would laugh
and tell me
i was quite a wit
the snake would say
why can't you see
he's there for the taking
not just for the talking?
and probably add
that an orgasm's not
just a comical method
for cooking a carrot
but eve would tell him
to wise the bap
and softly explain
that she only loved me
because i was funny
and i only was funny
because i was sad
and if she would love me
then i would be happy
but if i was happy
i wouldn't be funny
and if i wasn't funny
then she wouldn't love me
and anyway i wasn't
the kind of guy she liked
to imagine
and so you see
you wouldn't be
anywhere at all
if it had been
left up to me
to arrange
the fall
that's what i'll say
did it mean so
little?
we could
at least
have talked
if you'd only
told me
why can't you be
reasonable?
why couldn't you
let me fix it
whatever
it was?
with any luck
you won't know where
to begin
you've already begun
i make great pains
of telling you
how much i need you
because i want you
to see the chains
i'm holding on
to the remains
you're leaving me
deceiving me
it's dead
and i accept
the kind of thing
you need to say
is better kept
unsaid
it rarely
helps to tell
like a pair
of corpses
pointing out
the smell
fait accompli
it's much
the better way
see you betray me
watch me crumble
in dismay
watch me overacting
ruining
your play
it wasn't a mistake
it used to be
a feeling
now the reeling
in your ears
is the squealing
of the brake
for god's sake
lover
find a friend
and throw away
two years
in a short weekend
waking up
on my own
waking up
my own
waking up
i only wanted to be
single
but you wouldn't
believe me
until i found
someone else
when you are
fat and hairy
and have
found no grace
i will
stifle your pillow
in your face
when all your
creatures perish
and your
fools have gone
i will
shovel you calmly
from your grave
she likes the way
i don't try
too hard
moving my mouth
to a pucker
dreaming of kissing
your lips
and all that was giving
me comfort were my
filter tips
giving things up
can be tricky
it's easier just
to keep on
giving up smoking
i managed the moment
you'd gone
after all this time
how could you
be unfaithful?
it was immaculate
how could you
be unfaithful
to him?
you should have
said something
how could you
be unfaithful
to him
with anyone other
than me?
i'll take a little bleeding
on the bathroom floor
any day
why do we
tar you
with the same brush
as all those other guys?
not like them
are you?
we'd see it
if we took the time
to look into your eyes
you are the man
who isn't male
your arms are weak
your face is pale
you cry
you couldn't hurt
a fly
you're everything
a pair of girls
could hope for in
a guy
the way that you
emasculate
yourself before me
makes me sick
at last i
understand
why lots of ladies
like a man
who has a dick
bold
i reach to
hold
they teach i
fold
their gracious host
i took them
to my board
i served them
of my fruit
which met
with turned up
nose
they chose
to chew the
cud
of their own
cruelty
and put me
in this
garden
i will not
beg their
pardon
they knew
the gods
above
are not
without their
mercy
they let me
love
but do
not make me
choose
this water from
my fountain
serves me
well
there's ground
enough
to stand on
i am
tantalus
it's a funny kind of
hell
be thankful for
small mercies