Dinner

your retinas are shining: your pupils dilated

your epidermis is rosy: your hair, so lustrous—

i contemplate the allure of your flowing dead cells.

your fingernails painted, your smile so white

your eyelashes so long, so thick and so dark

you have graceful appendages—thin, yet strong.

here’s a flower: for you, a red rose.

you’re welcome. take these chocolates, they’re for you too.

open your door and pull out your chair,

smile and nod and i’m really nervous…

my grammar is gone—my lexicon lost.

my neurons are drowning in a cocktail of hormones—

i think you’re talking, but i really couldn’t tell.

i straighten my collar and pull at my tie

i smile and nod and you ask for dessert

this date was so easy, this dinner so simple

you sit and you talk, and i eat and i nod

i wipe food from my shirt and once in a while

i flash a big smile.