JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

There's nothing more delicious

than a stage whisper shared

between impossible situations

and tea-sipping reality

 

Given: the difference in age

the ability to see through smoke screens

of cover-ups, the pretense of both

that they don't understand

and despite all, the power of broadcast

between true male and true female

through thick haze, behind turned backs

across crowded rooms. Enchanting

 

The bodies turn, the eyes meet

for a briefest fraction, acknowledge,

then pass on by with a smile

(sunlight through the haze, bright, dustmoting

into a tube of light)

 

'What happened?' she stagewhispers,

'Nothing', he replies, 'but thank you so much

for asking'

 

She giggles, he grins,

delicious!