digging that reply Tom.  think you can stop at satisfaction though. :D

held out
my hand

in it
you place a spark

that
won't take flame
until you
touch it

then
though in pieces
though deaf and dumb

I'll supply the greedy
with
a new and different
taste
for
more

---

with apologies to all editors & their picks

I must confess the first time
I read it as pricks & glancing
down i saw it was rather long
that impressed me quite a bit
of course by that time i realized
it was not pricks but picks
which got me wondering
who picks the editors' picks
& thought to myself how ripe
I was for the picking.

How right 'twould have been
even if it had been pricking
'cos a prick is not just a prick
but a prick as well, I mean literally.

I could sing 'o prick o prick
o prick me with a picking.'

sorry no offence meant - hope no one is taking it in that sense -
who picks the editors picks - the line was floating around in my head - so just made it up.

if i've hurt any sensibilities i apologize

you haven't hurt a thing as far as I'm concerned, and can't see how you might've hurt anyone else.  you're just posting your 'nawty bits' as tiko says.

enjoy yourself,
cheryl

thanks cheryl!

hope you enjoy the following - not my words - but a friend's - over long discussion about poetry - the only credit i can take is putting it in verse:

(in Roy's words)

Good poetry is like sex —
great foreplay,
intense encounter,
a contemplative cigarette.

I'm posting this here so I can remove it from workshop....

---

dance near flames


with closed eyes
she leans
into his palm

orange fire
crackles
between them
in a dance
near flames
something
is burning
it's way
through
like a firefly
handed
to an audience
     here, look!

it won't die
between
cupped palms

there will be
more than a husk
of something
bright and shining
in darkness
above fire

breath
is clear
and white

---

you have become
a monster of ice
no degree of fire
even causes to
grow slippery

and I

stuck to you
a stupid tongue
onto the flagpole
on the coldest
day of the year

some things are sad
others are mad
I think you've gone mad

maybe I was wrong
or not paying attention
that was when I wish
you'd grabbed me
by the shoulders
and shook me,
     'this is for you, dammit!'

maybe all the elements
weren't in our favor
but that's a lame excuse

if all three exist
a flame erupts

we have the fuel
even if it's anger
look at Rhett and Scarlett

we have heat
need and desire
aren't we both human?
at one time, I truly wanted you
and I know you wanted me

we gave each other
room to breathe
sometimes the fuel and heat
were so strong
we needed more air
...or not as much

---

I want to levitate on your lungs
put whipped cream in your shaving cream
pounce between your frothy legs
and frolic on Friday
and today's Friday

now, all of that's naughty (or nawty)
but it sounds like shit

---

strawberry shortcake
comes to mind

food swallowed
inadvertently
into the airtube

& that restaurant
sort of a Hooters
without the...well, hooters

where's that geek
you promised us

is the library open
late tonight?

friday starts
with morning
vigor
breakfast and
whipped cream

for lunch
we
should have
tonya

*the other half

'morning 'hun

do
what
you
will

after
20 years

i'm
indifferent

perfectly
indifferent

& entirely
yours