Tonight's Poet Corner: Easy on the Eyes

Easy on the Eyes
by Belinda Roddie

She wears a skirt like extra skin,
an edge to add to an edge, to an edgy
silhouette dreaming shadows
up behind a transparent curtain -
it's meant to conceal, but it winds up
revealing every calming inch.

I like her. I like her from a distance,
when my coffee's cold and my biscuit's
broken and my credit card is maxed. I
think of kissing her and know that
if I tried, she'd slap me, hard, and
with her lipstick handprint dripping
anger from my cheek, I'll know
that I've deserved the strike.

Still, there's something to her that
keeps me cool. The smile or the curve
of her ankle against her sneaker. The way
she adores herself, and I think she should
be respected for it. But from a distance,
I am an annoying ogler, and even though
she's easy on the eyes, I am ashamed

of devolving her to nothing but
the superficial glow
of my carnivorous urges.