The other day I tried to imagine him in my space
My stomach seized and my face flushed
when I pictured him sitting on the furniture
His actions are indelicate and dangerous
he is leaving traces
I am overwhelmed by his oafishness
even in my own mind
He throws his mass around destructively
like a large, clumsy animal
The smell of his body
is overpowering in my small space
His breathe makes my nostrils shut
when I try to inhale
I remember the night
that he returned from the buffet table
with food piled in a single column
from a hand held at his belt right up to his chin
It was cheese cubes, crackers and grapes
and he danced back to our table
with out dropping a thing
He sat down next to me,
smacking his lips and drooling
I thought that I would puke
when he offered me a grape
from his cheesy fist.
poems from my twenties