handsome

handsome
for Bela Lugosi

fuck damn I’m handsome!
look at me! I’m Bela Lugosi!
this hair does not comb itself
these eyes do not linger upon

the beautiful curve of yr neckline
by accident
ties angled such as this one
do not grow on trees you know

laughter can not be purchased
at auction
love does not plop sitting

on the ground waiting for mortal
fools to step into it
it must be hunted, enchanted,

handsome men like me, a hypnotic
woman such as yourself,
we must take action
fuck damn look at me!

I’m Bela Lugosi!
you have eyes like a carousel
come to me I must ride them
together we will be a force

more powerful than any movie
I may or may not have starred in,
allow me to be memory and

you shall be the sort of dialogue
that can not be forgotten,
my cape is a long night and

in it I can hear you calling,
my love, waiting someplace
along side the hemline

of this dream

no madam I
have not been drinking
pull my string!

(from my book Paper Thin, farfalla/mcmillan & parrish press)