Once you have tasted flight, said Leonardo
you will forever walk with your eyes
turned skyward
and when you are fourteen and initiated into sex
by a thirty-two year old woman
who lives in your parents’ hippie commune
you will forever look to the aged for
love
You will survey the wrinkles and age spots of women
with a particular greed
You will know that their old men are dying off
like flies
They can see the lust in your eyes
They long to be touched
to be taken
They want to tell you about their maladies
their bodies, their traumas, their children
but you will have none of it
Be Here Now, you tell them
with a certain cynicism
a dose of sarcasm
You will try to assess
from a distance
how much tightness
remains in their vaginas
before you’ve even said hello
M. Krochmalnik Grabois’ poems have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad. He is a regular contributor to The Prague Revue, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, most recently for his story “Purple Heart” published in The Examined Life in 2012, and for his poem. “Birds,” published in The Blue Hour, 2013. His novel, Two-Headed Dog, based on his work as a clinical psychologist in a state hospital, is available for 99 cents from Kindle and Nook, or as a print edition.
