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John Grey

SEEING RAY AND THERESA KISS


I was there when

their lips parted company with their lives

and latched onto each other with a hearty smack

like a boat hitting the dock


While this was going on,

I picked the pink and white blossom

and touched my palm lightly with it

like I imagined he should do

to her hair

and then I blew it away

from my hand to catch a ride on the wind,

the way I believed then that people

should break from each other, without that

"no hard feelings" nonsense

I followed them up the hill

but that entire journey motif is

overrated, that brisk buss possessing

within its heart, the spark, the gall

to happen anywhere and not necessarily

at the end of some bone-grinding walk

I bent my knees

and I parted reeds

and my nerve ends trembled

at the thought that they were

so caught up in this,

I could never be discovered

I kept stone still as

his mouth opened up his whole

body for her all the way down

to his lungs, and that simple action

suddenly tossed the nature of things

into a swirling frenzy and she allowed

herself to be swept into that

marvellous momentary maelstrom

I saw a kiss at close range

like it a was a thousand miles from me



SLAVE WOMEN FOR FREE


A souvenir for your life

is a grimy cheesecake calendar

on a garage office wall,

the last day of December

striking a savage blow to the

pouting naked breasts of

that month's posing miss.

Take it away, stow it beneath

your bed-sheets, even as the

nude women dress, grow older,

and the time the ragged pages measure

will never pass this way again.

Not only did the mechanic fix

your car, he gave you this.

So use it wisely in the days ahead

for days passed by ask nothing less.


[Index]

Thunder Sandwich #26 - Summer/Fall 2005