Vicki Hudspith The 2River View, 7.1 (Fall 2002)
Shim

The Inebriation Of Salt

You rapped your cigar against my knuckles
I watched tobacco
Drop against my hand and vowed
Never to say anything against a man’s cigar

Or compare the smoke
Of one against another for they are all fragrant
In the tropical evening where moisture
And scent are damp varieties of kisses

Are equal
To evening breezes
Against
The backs of my knees

This is
The inebriation of salt
To be true
It has to be said

You wanted me to be in love
So you could see how it looked
Could catch its fragrance
As it left my skin

In ever widening circles
Of your dissatisfaction
From thunder I learn about rain
And by sweltering I adapt to heat

I am compelled by autumn
To dwell in the created months
While the biology of misbehavior
Will forget you

Working like an eraser
To perform a shadow puppetry
On my heart
And the signature, your sigh

Shim
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