Book 14 EnSue

Do not assume

that the temporary

manifestation of

self deprecation

in response to the

absence of tactile

confirmation of attraction

is the norm

the caveman proclivities

have been subsumed

to conform

to the plan

of a renascent

well endowed man

and when you finally

take stock

and think

on the gifting,

which is the stronger

lasted longer

is more uplifting

soothing and softer

what let you swim

not sink

water or rock?

Rhetorical Riddle

What does a

strong, slender

intelligent

self reliant

woman of sixty

(with an underserved case

of heart ache)

do when a non adonis, loquacious

goofy word lover

lands in her lap?

It will dawn on you

as you make a sunrise

jealous of your hair

it is time to:

shake out

the monarch spirit

dry the wings

test the air

put a feather in your cap

be light headed

heed the need

to be profligate with your secrets

break all your wishbones

listen to another's

moonlit heartbeat

take a wide bite of melon

let the juice

run down your chin

take a chance

steal a glance

don't try to hide

the felon's grin

No more than a glance

sufficed to discern

though practically protected

by the widow weed

beach burka

window dressing

instantly recognized

as the woman past

regressed from

memory now

renewed

deshabilled by

second sight

recalled by

mutual attraction

I watched

a woman

disappear today

erasing her self

as she was putting

herself on

making up

blushing before

an unrecognized image

heedless of the faceless

beauty beyond the skin

warts and all

Simply by applying

the effects of Gaussian blur

while consciously

enlarging the pupil

the beholder can

simultaneously

keep in view

the age ravaged

time savaged

visage

and allow the inner

radiance to soften

and unwrinkle beauty

such enhancing abilities

require vigilant constant

super vision to offset

the delusional affects

of love blindness

moon burned

the pale pure

light clouded

by the inky tragedy

of two unspooned

and one spurned

from the hole in the sky

the encrusting frostbite

of numbing

unabandoned grief

pours unsuspected

stiffening separating

creating a newly orphaned

lover and love

Lady on the lake

living in a bubble

champagning up

increasing altitude

altering attitude

joining the frisson

of others effervescing

effortlessly untroubled

full moon lit the fuse

salamanders emerge

au pair

under Sapphobows

the last day of summer

the first of fall

an equinox is knocking

let it come

let it go

the best part

of the Bay's day

is the first ray

the anticipation

of the imperceptible

the uncertainty of the

inevitable

the sudden sense

of presence

at the entrance

to the doorway

of the day

do not dismiss

the chaste requested

first kiss

it was lip service

to trust

lust's negation

in anticipation

of passion's glow

smoked strong

and slow

tip of the iceberg

lip of the cliff

I am here

to raise you up

and rattle your cage

you are engaged to

soothe and settle

a testament to

two mettles tested

until alloyed

but never again

to act

our age

cobwebs blur the edges of:

the fireplace stones

four score ago

laid foursquare

and the passed voices

Grammy's winning

lullaby and Dad's

bad but good humor

the walls lean in to hear

families' familiar lumbered legends

the door frames sag

with the saga of each year’s growth

seasoned, creaking and comforting

blearing hard feelings to warm

hearths and hearts

In an aria

after the manner of Caruso

the marooned man

flutter tongues

on the long bone of a swan

fluting the last coda

in the lament for his lost Leda

caressing the stops

as the adoring bird

would her thigh

he sighs

eyes wetting

a crucified Crusoe

transfixed between

the waning moon

and the sun's maroon setting

bereft, watching

his love

raft away

we wade in

shedding our castoff

technicolor shells

on the shore

littorally denuded

stranded

we brave

the bracing wave's

line in the sand

In comber's cadence

they promenade unwavering

from plage to promontory

unguided in unbroken

rolling stride

driven to the repeated

self destruction of

frothing suicide

unrolling restless

trolling from trough

to peak

hissing, broken sighing

endeavoring to speak

of journeys quartering

before the freshening breeze

harried by ever following seas

the pantomime

of past lives

pulls heart strings

away from present

pleasured sentiments

puppetting

falsely urgent

through the sediment

long severed

phantom limbs in

panged reiteration

of deeply interred

mawkish muscle memories

that defy metaphysical rehabilitation

and parody movement

Waking to the beating

of the Red Drum

watching the desired fine blue line

ciphering the wrinkled life sum

just out of jest

yet with

sadly deadly earnest

inclining only to recline

in the dance of decline

led to our last

daily rest

risking my small all

in doffing the mask masculine

tossing it with a ring

without regret

into your omlet

egg basket

feasting on the mystique

after the feminine famine

sore eyes sated

sighted and delighted

in doing your lips

service

glass hammers

rubber nails

wrenched hopes carried in

bottomless pails

carelessly climbing

riserless stairs

wiser but sadder

on stepless ladders

in houses of panes

unroofed to rain

sharply speaking

jawless pliers are

veritable liars

unseen saws

in two way mirrors

despairing knives

toothless forks

unlived lives

with keyless locks

none are the sharpest

tools in the

handy man's box

of life's

trade offs