June 11, 2020

THE LOOKING GLASS BY KAMALA DAS


THE LOOKING GLASS BY KAMALA DAS 


Getting a man to love you is easy 

Only be honest about your wants as 

Woman. Stand nude before the glass with him 

So that he sees himself the stronger one 

And believes it so, and you so much more 

Softer, younger, lovelier. 


Admit your 

Admiration. Notice the perfection 

Of his limbs, his eyes reddening under 

The shower, the shy walk across the bathroom floor, 

Dropping towels, and the jerky way he 

Urinates. All the fond details that make 

Him male and your only man. 


Gift him all, 

Gift him what makes you woman, the scent of 

Long hair, the musk of sweat between the breasts, 

The warm shock of menstrual blood, and all your 

Endless female hungers. 


Oh yes, getting 

A man to love is easy, but living 

Without him afterwards may have to be 

Faced. A living without life when you move 

Around, meeting strangers, with your eyes that 

Gave up their search, with ears that hear only 

His last voice calling out your name and your 

Body which once under his touch had gleamed 

Like burnished brass, now drab and destitute.