Needy Men

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

The love inside a man needs rest though not

Inside a woman, maybe.  He must turn

To other things or he will be too fraught

Perhaps like baited bull.  The fires that burn

Inside his chest and lower down

Brood dangerous outside his bed, outside

The bedroom tidied by his mate.  A frown

Hides always like an undertow if tide

Becomes too strong beneath the sperm-hued moon

Of maleness.  Maybe work will give a bit

Of rest.  But maybe dryness like a dune

Could help, or Joseph’s brothers’ desert pit.

. . Society and everyone around

. . . . Control his lust because his needs abound.

~ Phillip Whidden