Monday, March 11
ON DATING
i want mutual suspicion. an agreed upon distaste
for optimism. for goals.
when we meet, i want a handshake.
a smile, real & gentle, but wary. a shrewd eye
to eye. if a glint, so be it. but i'm neither asking
nor gifting.
i gave the last of my polite laughs
relationships ago. i like cats
for their earned intimacy, their requisite
listening. the respect in learning
their themes without presumption. or else
the claws, the teeth
when all along, buried under patience: the purr.
the muzzle. the tender kneading.
(Gordon Mitchell Smith)