I wish to peer at Paris, under-dressed and ***** in all of its neoclassical splendor.

For that, there are things I would give up.

I wish to see a prehistoric forest, verdant, overgrown and jumbled.
Before evergreen mysteries I would be ever humbled.

For that, there are things I would give up.

I wish to see Rhodian gardens and from them, smell the flowering fig and taste succulent honey suckle.
I wish to glimpse zaftig temptresses dancing twenty thick amidst courtyards of ancient Persian palaces.

For that, there are things I would give up.

I wish to be blessed into an inenarrable life on an unalike mysterious planet.
I wish for an Atlas resembling and proportionate soul.

For that, there are things I would give up.

I've demanded an even temperament from my unruly emotions.
I've settled for continuous disbelief at the loquacious ignobleness of humanity.

For change, there are things I would give up.

I've sequestered my innocent dreams and bloomed monetary means.
I've avoided death narrowly, my fingers gripping, fear will always transfix, while barreling down 36'.
I've inhaled profits and installed transformation.

For change, there are things I would give up.

I've burned my midnight oil, taken offensive slander, and burned bridges with gratuitous candor.
I've witnessed coal falsify a beautiful gloaming sky.
I've had gasoline dreams filled and fuming with intensity, all drowning under an ocean of oil.
I've envisioned bleached beaches to hide stained soil.

These are moments I would give up.

There are things I've realized outside my reality, outside my internal soliloquy and physical tactility.
I've come to understand my words are nothing more than symbols on a closed door.

Now the cuttlefish
is a curious little critter,
not above shenanigans
because these naughty little things
indulge in oral ***.
What? Well, yes,
the male pops his hectocotylus
into the female’s mouth
and halleluja, does his thing
right there, without shame
or any ignobleness.
And the female?
Well, she doesn’t waste or swallow this
although she goes round other males
and solicits more deposits
for her clutch. Yes, her little clutch!
Eh? Such wantonness!
Really. But this precociousness
is just the way they like it
and shows us
there are many different ways
to indulge in coitus.
Yeah, just simply liking lots of hectocotylus
right down to, but properly,
stopping short of her esophagus.
Without any further apophasis
Obviously, nature thinks that this is efficacious,

Mike T Minehan