I don't "need" you
the way I don't "need" Handel with dinner
and jazz with dessert
and I don't "need" you
just as I don't "need" Veuve Clicquot
and sauvignon blanc
and impeccably-brewed espresso.
Need is plain water
and unaccompanied rice.
Need is a nail punched into dry and silent wood.
Need you? No. But relish? Oh,
to feast on your groans
and the taste of your thrusts -
you rich in my mouth, mine,
your yielding more precious than salt.
Peg Duthie works as a
calligrapher in Nashville, Tennessee. Her story "I
Would Never" appeared in Clean Sheets in July, 2003.
Forthcoming publications include poems in Moist and Blowing
Kisses.
Current Poetry
Return to the table of contents for the other current poetry
The Poet's Companion - by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux