06.28
poetry is for pussies
such is the implication
of the Brut commercial with
the bogus badass boxer
who eschews expensive trunks
and takes a pass on poets
meanwhile girlfriend home alone
puts his Brut-soaked dress shirt on
husky-voiced talk on the phone
when his call intrudes upon
scented preparations gone
lonely onanism blown
poetry is for pussies?
that would come as a surprise
to mighty Agamemnon
fearsome Ashurbanipal
Alexander, Augustus
and that is just the A-list
not to mention Charlemagne
Richard Coeur de Leon or
Henry the Fifth and the Eighth
Frederick the Great or my late
English prof, ex-Marine who
wept when measures moved himno
perfume is for pussies
and Brut is just perfume for men
macho or metrosexual
besides if you do it right
your girl will wait for you and
your natural smell suffice