2.08.2023

I’m not clear on why men like you can take me down so completely

Your mouth was a torment to me 
            and I came within a hair 
of telling you so. 
            Your laughing mouth, on that 
video you sent me. Specifically, your 
            delight, in a glittering wave, 
singing karaoke 
            Honky Tonk Woman in your truck 
to your women’s ice hockey 
            team—bobbing back and forth 
in your white oxford cloth button down 
            and loosened red tie— 
And the green dots everywhere. Your 
            online engagements. 
The sacral prana 
            flowing through 
and over me, even 
            at that distance, 
on my tiny screen. 
 
I was next to the cement 
            floor of the peripeteia, 
where weeks before 
            my brother, visiting 
the same cousin 
            in silvery, wind-beaten Beaufort, 
North Carolina, 
            nearly bled out at the foot 
of the bed, a jagged glass 
            in his right hand. Were it not 
for the crash, Tipper 
            would not have found 
him till morning. 
 
I’m not clear on why men 
            like you can take me 
down so completely. 
            Why I think it would 
be amusing. 
            You’ve put me down 
from the get-go. Craving 
            is a hard mistress—a hard and 
charismatic mother—. 
            Ask my brother. 
 
[Dana Roeser {1953- } 'Mouth', from Poem-a-Day]

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