John Davis

Hands

What anarchy of angels will erupt when boys
decide to pants a special needs boy

yank down his underpants      hold him
down on the shower room floor

Do they turn on the shower when they jam
the broom handle        Is the water cold         Is it hot

Does it steam his glasses                    In the haze
of screams will the helmets and pads hung in lockers

hear the no no and stop please stop                                       
as boys become men become villains            And what of

the young hands of the boy who holds
the broom        who jams the handle

What of those hands that have tackled
that have caught spirals and held them to his own heart

as he charged downfield                     juking              jiving left & right
hands that have shaved a bar of soap

into a white whale to give on Mother’s Day
What of the fire in the branches of his hands

that warmed revenge  hands that one day
might point to violet stars and northern lights

When we blame          do we blame
the hands that have washed themselves

before dinner              hands that have folded
themselves neatly in prayer

Life is Short. Have an Affair.
Ashley Madison

And now you can cheat on your wife
with the flick of an app

for a path to bondage and blindfolds,
faux-fur handcuffs with a married woman,               

every position your wife won’t assume.
Your affair likes to finger your mole. You finger

her diamond ring. You love the way light catches
the diamond when she’s holding your sex. You lean

back like a man watching Double Indemnity,                                   
eye the glinted light of her ring, a family heirloom.

Think of all the love and lust that ring has seen,
the I do’s, the fuck you’s, the permanence

and impermanence of a wedding band,                                 
the thrill of loving more than what her husband loves,

a touch of skin, a run through the forest of love, to be
someone else, steal his oxygen, breathe his breath.

 

John Davis is the author of Gigs and The Reservist. His work has recently appeared in DMQ, Harper Palate, Iron Horse Literary Review  and Rio Grande Review. He moonlights in rock and roll bands.