Endangered Flirtation

He's an ass
covered in dim lights
and perfect cream-colored clothes
the kind you find
in a magazine
or plastered on a billboard

So inviting
to the one
who likes
perfected air-brushed beauty
like the image
everyone had told her
she should be

He doesn't tell her his name
Only questions
That seem to come out undisguised
in the midst of brown sugared tea
too strong to be indulged
yet carelessly consumed
so that for a moment
she can reveal
what's really inside

The only thing missing
is a puffed out cigarette
or two
He asks if her hair has a little red
She says yes
And lets his hands
caress
what only one man should have

The gold band is forgotten
mentioned in passing
as though it doesn't really exist
He offers her a ride
an invitation for danger
or perhaps just a way
to forget the emptiness
until a new void
gets created with the rise
of the sun's first set of revealing rays

Lingering Facade

You were a gentle breeze
The kind that sneaks up behind your back
Brushing against the skin like a tease
You wanted what you couldn’t have
A sense of control
Entitlement to a gift you hadn’t yet earned
But you thought you did

I’m sorry it didn’t work out
Quite the way you wanted
You can’t catch what you don’t already have
An independent spirit won’t be burned
Because she’s already free
To make her own choices
And define her own life
Not be tricked into a trap
Of whom you think
She should be

Good-bye was the right choice
Even though the prize you dangled
Was a temptation shrouded sometimes
In regret for not being taken
We can’t go back
You realize
To an unspoken almost tune
Suddenly creating steps that were never written
Destiny always has its way of manifesting
If not now, eventually

And ours was just a brief moment
Of passing connection
So beautiful
Incapable of being forgotten
Yet discarded
Like a piece of paper
With scribbles
Of what we don’t want anyone else to see

A $20 Bottle of Chardonnay

The last bottle
of cheap wine
poured into glasses
painted with margarita palms
takes me back to the tipsy tank

A tank that sometimes I get drowned in
until morning starts to shine its first rays
of wake me-up light
No more fun dancing
or bad karaoke interpretations of Ms. LeAnn

It's now 5:30
Not midnight
No more darkness
Slept away in a swirl of dizzy

Only a small remnant of regret
For doing what you said you wouldn't
A lingering feeling of almost sickness
From a toxic substance
That erases the pain you feel about yourself
Enticing you with the allure of everything's wonderful

No matter the name
Chardonnay,
Cabernet,
Pinot Noir,
Grigio,
Merlot,
Or perhaps Sauvignon or Sangria
If you're feeling a little edgy
It all ends the same

Reality is a prison you can't escape
You are a reality you can't escape
Decisions made
A chapter written
A synopsis now unfolded
That wasn't quite the tale you meant to have told

The only hope
Is a blank page
That is still pure white
Inviting in its innocence
Waiting to become the reflection
Of what and whom you really feel inside