Love Itch
for T.L.C.

gather her up
every single petal

yellow, pink
or whatever color
withered or recently fallen
and fresh still

must gather her up
before she’s walked upon
trampled into pavement
or into mud

getting to know her better
wrestling my way
into her way of life
her way of being
into her bean shell
up her bean stalk

not as easy any more
to make poems of her
used to be able to
at the drop of a hat-pin

on the floor upon all fours
until I found it

hungry for her still
but the will to write is shifted

Christmas, over and done with
deeper into winter now
she permits me less
other things and other persons
to give herself too

I used to have her on the rocks
like Bloody Mary in a rock glass

how we have whipped
and licked each other
balm as well as pain provided

song on the radio,
Barry White's music
recall a girl I used to go with
used to live with

last time I saw her
she confessed to being
a hundred percent lesbian
I was the last man
she’d been with, gone with,
slept with

suggested I broke her heart
like an arm
out of place
ever since

she brought along
a Barry White album
when she came to visit
to spend a week with me

what a time it was
except for ups and downs
which ended with
the axle of our vehicle breaking
our love van incapacitated

this new fling of mine
my heartthrob
am I too old for love, to take it

boat pitching upon the waves
all the pots upon the stove
having to be chained down

Lord, help me to hold up
and to hold out
however love pitches,
tosses or throws me

allow me to be true
to her, to it, to this
love itch


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
1:36 a.m. 22.01.08