Spin Cycle
Warm clothes out of the dryer --
the scent hooking its aromatic
arms around my neck,
like a college girlfriend
before a kiss in the laundromat.
And something, long-buried, rises
like a serpent when Seduction
blows her snake charmer's flute.
Is this why the sight of a fresh
line speedbags my heart,
like that of a child's
before summer break,
or why the smell of detergent
calls me like a lover into
the laundry room before
she pulled me between her
open legs? Her lips --
warm and wet -- ready
to take my tongue.
_______________________________
What It Is
"Good Goodness" is what Derrick
calls it. Fred says it's "The Rub,"
how lovers work at each other –
tensing in an arch, bracing for
a succession of tiny explosions.
Moist lips, interlocking legs,
blood boiling and steaming
through skin. It's laying
the rod of God on non-
believers, who switch faiths
after glimpsing nirvana in
a climax. The sore, slackened
muscles – a reminder of Fred's
wisdom: All I'm sayin', yo. Is be ready
when she put the good thigh on you.
Alan King's fiction and poems have appeared in the Arabesques Review, Warpland, The Amistad, and Fingernails Across the Chalkboard: Poetry and Prose on HIV/AIDS, among others. A Cave Canem fellow and Vona
Alum, his work was also part of Anacostia Exposed, a collaborative
exhibit with Irish photographer Mervyn Smyth that showcases the life
and energy of Anacostia.
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