Muggy shadow. What stirs the insect hum
of a late spring day. What bedfellows. What

beguiles stout matrons, stacked dowagers, slum-
randy house moms, thrice-crossed widows. What smut

blurs the balmy air, the rag trade to love’s haute
couture. I make a sleazy ghost, but sleaze

can still please: pleather gash, suede stain, a blot
of dried cum. There’s jail bait, that raunchy breeze,

in the dark corner of your soul. The bugs
muzzle their love song as I pass. Green air,

fables of green air; I’m what you leave out
in your prayers, what you need the most, what tugs

you home to stir your faith. I’m like nightmare,
like what the gods call love, like what you doubt.