BY STEPHEN BETT

Stephen Bett has had 12 poetry collections published. This poem is an excerpt from Stephen’s latest collection, Re-positioning, which is based on a soft-porn spoof. Each poem begins with a simple blank-face, stark-naked line drawing of “boy & girl next door” figures in utterly physically impossible sexual positions. Copyright is held by the author.

 

Line drawing: he’s facing up, sliding off the chair, barely hanging on on his elbows & butt; she has
her back to him, straddling him, sitting tall ‘on’ him

Calories: Him 75.6
Her: 54

Equipment: Chair

Hazard: Stop Immediately if You Hear a Snapping Sound

It isn’t all it’s
cracked up to be

Never is

Just like the daily fare
(the daily chair)

That snapping
sound—
could be a disc
a vertebra
a busted heart

You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away

We’re getting
real close