Humiliation Pictures

(after C. Dale Young, George Szirtes, & Cole Porter)


You think I'm lying. I'm not lying.
If I'm the bottom, you're the top,
the foppish parakeet-eyed soldier
with the dog. A derelict motel

& a shabby room. I sold your likeness
for a quick poll on usefulness.
Turns out I'm useless. If I'm your favorite
game, I'm Risk. The walls soak up

our language. The ceiling drips it.
You're so risque. Briskly, you strip
my continents of their use, put
your boot down hard on my base,

its basest ambitions. If I'm humbled,
it's at your feet. A sheet snakes across
the headboard. The loop we tape
won't be your basic hardcore.

If I'm to have hope, you too
must have hope. You think I'm lying?
I'm not that smart. I've always been
more sleeve than heart.