In the background a football game on TV ,
Birds whisking away across the deck
From the shadow of a local hawk.
But primarily I couldn't stop reflecting
On my wife saying, half-mashed on gin,
She'd like to seduce a woman we know—
Merely to see what would happen—quite a lot,
She suspects, like a cork out of a bottle—
He related, not sodden with apprehension
Or elevated with desire to manage
Such an assignation, but detached
Like a diplomat on vacation in Mackinaw
City. A woman who was almost
His girlfriend years ago, a colleague,
Who I think he still wonders about in the bath.
Someone, I suppose, his wife has noted
Unconsciously as a rival, though I may
Be reading too much into this—they've
Been together a long time. Unless
She has been an accomplice in sordid
Motels or on truck seats—which I doubt,
Though my imagination has shed
All discipline … I can see that Tom, said Larry,
Though I'd be inclined to leave this aside.
It's like a bear tapping on the door, you don't
Really want to open it, do you? Not to mention
All the white-knuckled regrets that can't be
Anticipated … Are you trying to tell me
This doesn't interest you? Not at all, said Larry,
I'm only indicating that this may be more
Complicated than it appears … Rain puddling
Over ice. A curious whine in the wires …











From Poetry Magazine, Vol. 189, no. 1, October 2006. Used with permission.