Shannon & Sue 2

Shannon still thinks she can save me
can you imagine
Shannon
a savior
iridescent night gown shimmering shivering cone falling
lamp light
bullion breasts in sharp shadow
   like husky bullies in a periwinkle fog
she's twirling in similar spiral as my ceramic teacup
ballerina with the broken slipper
Shannon
looping again and again in drunken stupor,

- Take out your yellow'd corkscrew from those
   cotton candy coveralls,
she barked,
   and come meet me in the street.

- If I come forth,
I heard my voice reply
as the cool night air trembled,
   Will you let me march
   as the man I promise you will one day meet?
   Will you let me twirl (also)
   as you do
   but to a song from a Southern constellation?
   Will you allow me to skip like a proud pimp
   like a purple pulsing she-chimp?
   Will you let me cock my hip to the clouds?
   Will you let me bend?
   Will you let me dip?

- No,
she replied,
   I will grab you.
   I will swallow you.

- Touch me,
I said,
   and I'll sue.

- What??
and her stammer was audible
heard by an audience in stadiums ten thousand miles away.

- Touch me I'll sue.
I said it again
simple
not from the pulpit
but from the threshold where through trod the million minutes
of my life.

- Touch me
   I'll sue.

TA