“Our dead friend used to say

when she reached menopause

the swamp cleared from her mind

the sun shone brightly

for the first time since girlhood

she could think clearly

things were outlined as if in lights

a dog was a dog and a man

was only a man

~

Imprisoned in the arms

of Eros you relax you blur

you have no will of your own

almost anything

can make you tingle with delight

music art nature kisses touch

the wetness the pulsing

every glance a sort

of soft bullet she said

~

How true and what a fool

I made of myself

all those years

well we all did, you and I

honey we were like those lab mice

that will step on the pedal

that gives them those thrills

not eating not stopping

until they die

~

Now when I look at my body

under the spell of gravity

I have to laugh

Oh my god the way we all lined up

like a fleet of taxis at a red light

just waiting and racing our motors

what a joke sex is, though without it

no avenue to paradise

no human glue”