Portrait of Sensuous Mystery Girl

I can’t say how much she means to me
sitting sideways with glowing green eyes
loose rustic skirt and skinny pale ankles.
Her lips are poised, defiant, teasing;
her feet bare and natural, ready to go,
with nothing to lose or prove, but sit
on a gate, be painted, hook and hook
long years coming . . .

Her fair mousy hair pulled back, wisping
forward – she’s the eternal country girl
you don’t get (oh dear – I don’t get).
She’s ethereal, catlike, perfect, wild
and alluring . . . my heart bleeds for her;
she is my ever-present death,
the life I live for and never get:
I haven’t earned her yet.



(First published by Pentagraph Press in “Love and Libido”, 1995.)