How You Are

Unknown, unsafe,

body-heat scent,

already too warm on visions of

spent time,

under a dragon’s fire,

request, resent

rebuffed desire – turn on a dime, a slimy smile,

dirty, greasy,

hot-breath all the while – “you know

you shouldn’t

dress that way,

body speaking differently

to that which words

say, attention, attention,

then brush it away,

enter the game and refuse to play…”

Levelled anger – apologise,

no intent to mislead cold eyes,

as far as I know, I rolled no dice; I moved no

pawn, no rook:

no invitations are needed to look,

equally none

were offered for touch -

but closer, closer, disquieting,

back to the wall,

you can’t come in,

vile whispers standing

between fear and escape,

paralysed steps to knowing ‘safe’,

that towering presence,

…that smirking rage…

the wolf is wearing

the clothes of a sheep,

a vision too benign for them all to

see the things that pitch

and churn inside,

pale and trembling beneath a thin disguise,

hammering heart, neck-hairs aligned,

no quieter now

with the passage of time,

and the turning

of the world 

under all of these stars…

Just one thing: old adage - ‘I’ve seen how you are’

- wound opened, fresh scar.