one night stand


over her porcelain shoulder
i see
a lace red bra and
soft pink roses 
tangled with sweat-stained
boxers
peeled off in
yellow moonlight


like sleeping minks
we lay knotted
in pools of torpor
as the fan blows her damp
odor languidly
in my glistening face

i hold my breath cautiously
like a little boy diving
cheeks bursting
i muffle the jungleheart
trying to betray me
throbbing without her

all for fear she might wake
might see me
loving her
with scared green eyes


---  by J.T. Townley, Texas A&M University