The Matter

    Some men break your heart in two...
    --Dorothy Parker, "Experience"
Some men carry you to bed with your boots on.
Some men say your name like a verbal tic.
Some men slap on an emotional surcharge for every erotic encounter.
Some men are slightly mentally ill, and thinking of joining a gym.
Some men have moved on and can't be seduced, even in the dream bars you meet them in.
Some men who were younger are now the age you were then.
Some men aren't content with mere breakage, they've got to burn you to the ground.
Some men you've reduced to ashes are finally dusting themselves off.
Some men are made of fiberglass.
Some men have deep holes drilled in by a war, you can't fill them.
Some men are delicate and torn.
Some men will steal your bracelet if you let them spend the night.
Some men will want to fuck your poems, and instead they will find you.
Some men will say, "I'd like to see how you look when you come," and then hail a cab.
Some men are a list of ingredients with no recipe.
Some men never see you.
Some men will blindfold you during sex, then secretly put on high heels.
Some men will try on your black fishnet stockings in a hotel in Rome, or Saran Wrap you 
     to a bedpost in New Orleans.
Some of these men will be worth trying to keep.
Some men will write smugly condescending reviews of your work, making you remember 
     these lines by Frank O'Hara:
I cannot possibly think of you/other than you are: the assassin/ of my orchards.
Some men, let's face it, really are too small.
Some men are too large, but it's not usually a deal breaker.
Some men don't have one at all.
Some men will slap you in a way you'll like.
Some men will want to crawl inside you to die.
Some men never clean up the matter.
Some men hand you their hearts like leaflets,
and some men's hearts seem to circle forever: you catch sight of them on clear nights,
bright dots among the stars, and wait for their orbits to decay, for them to fall to earth.

Kim Addonizio

6 comments:

Lovely!

February 6, 2009 at 9:25 AM  

very nice. are you in bombay for the kala ghoda festival?

February 6, 2009 at 12:31 PM  

PPCC:Isn't it just?

B:no yaar, what to do? Though Ms Zaidi is making more and more tantalising offers and programmes at Kala Ghoda

February 6, 2009 at 12:56 PM  

that worked, surprisingly.

February 8, 2009 at 9:23 PM  

... some men are a list of ingredients with no recipe..'
How true is that. very nice.

February 13, 2009 at 10:43 PM  

Ooh, nice! i like her too -- haven't seen this one online before though.

February 17, 2009 at 1:28 PM  

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