Elegy for My Sex Life

Goodbye, closing credits and kissing
till the lights came up.
Farewell, feathers and patchouli, slowdancing and waterbeds,
which I worshipped like Stations of the Cross.
Stickiness and soapslide, all that gliding and lingering:
goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.
Adios, palm-ache and saddle-ache and you, too, rugburn.
Au revoir, opera gloves, black satin swallowing the elbow,
toasts and braggadocio, pearls sliding
from their silky thread.
Goodbye, sheer persimmon shawl
and "That's a hell of a hello:"
So long, frontseat, against-the-wall, on-the-stairs.
How I'll miss you, backdoor and garter belts,
hosannas of gratitude and hymns of praise.
Can I hide my myrrh like a Magdalene?
Jasmine and cinnamon, wildest honey:
perfumes I won't break at your feet.

Copyright © 2009 Karen Kovacik All rights reserved
from Gargoyle
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission