Friday, January 21, 2022

Profile Deleted 0- Dec 22 2021

 

Profile Deleted

Dec 22 2021


A woman of a certain age.


She was coy about this.

But not much else;

the wild life she'd led,

the many men

she'd shared her bed with.

Her radical politics

and contrarian nature.


Which piqued my curiosity

if not a little envy.

Tempted

from my protected life

aversion to risk.

Yet feeling too inexperienced

to ever really please her.


An intimidating presence

a woman of the world,

and I allowed myself to imagine

where she might lead me

what I might learn.


But she kept

her tantalizing distance

and all I could do was imagine.

Perhaps this suits a man

who lives in his head,

no risk

of illusions shattered,

idealized versions

falling to earth.


So we will both go on,

growing old

as gracefully as we can.

One, knowing how to live well.

And the other

hoping for a chance encounter,

before age overtakes us

and too much time has passed.


Yes, I was checking out an on-line dating site. A rather adult site! And this mystery woman caught my eye.

The poem says as much about me as her: inexperienced; risk averse; a relatively protected life.

I guess private people like me shouldn't write poetry. Or if they, keep it to themselves. Because I'm uncomfortable posting this. On the other hand, there is nothing here to be embarrassed about. And the best poetry is authentic and personal and actually says something, rather than simply being a stylistic writing exercise meant to show off one's cleverness with words.


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