A selection from Raincheck Renewed
Wrap It Up
I wear the snake
around my head
like a turban.
It tucks in well
it stays in place.
Mostly it behaves.
I prefer it coiled –
please don’t slither
leading thoughts out of bounds,
brain out of kilter.
Bound around my head
the snake roams as it will.
Inside
all is still.
It’s your go
I’ve said my piece
my little treatise
on each to his own morals.
On sun ups and sun downs
I’ve made enough excuses
to go around.
Enough for us all.
You’re relenting.
You’re giving in
to temptation.
Just the merest flutter of it.
That’s what you like.
To feel the soft flutter
of temptation.
Almost consenting.
A quivering in your legs.
But you won’t give it away to anyone else.
You want to hug temptation
and know it’s there.
I’ve said my piece.
It was blunt.
Yet, somewhere, it must have cut.
It’s your go.
Dressing Up for the Salesgirl
Shop 1
If not already wafting in Hermes
how presumptuous to be
shopping in Hermes
The girl at the counter
doesn’t bother to serve.
Shop 2
Whipped by her up and down glance
it’s plain I couldn’t wear itsy bitsy
clothes from France
For Chloe
How could I have the nerve?
Shop 3
I stalk into the hot spot
Where the old black is the new black
Skirts drape straight on hips that don’t curve
“Gucci” says the blurb.
It all looks familiar, seen on every magazine cover
I daren’t touch what I like
I might glimpse the price
and the salesgirl will see my eyes
slide to the door.
(from the series ‘Aspiring to be a Tai Tai’)