Pages

Saturday, March 5, 2011

LAST TANGO IN TIMBUKTU


Poetry Potluck














I wonder if you can sense that you're mostly tip and very little iceberg,
though I still get a chill thinking of you.
And do you understand that your shallow hellos and how-are-yous
don't begin to scratch the surface of this itch?

Like the Sphynx, you sit there stone-faced,
a cryptic note I wrote to myself and can no longer decipher.
You strain to read my lips while I try to interpret your hand signals,
and that's as close as you and I ever come.

But all I want to do is touch you--
and maybe, maybe if we make love, I could break through.
But I remember some who wouldn't give me the time of day
on the day after, as if to say WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?
You can't touch me THAT way!

But maybe, maybe if I told you all my secrets, then I could touch you--
or would you just sit there in embarrassed silence and order another cafe latte?
Or take you to zee Kasbah and whisper dark obscenities in you ear,
or force you to look into my eyes,
or suck on your toes (whilst you're blowing your nose)
stand on my head, or take you to bed,
yes, I know it's not always a bed of roses
and sometimes things get thorny--
but DAMMIT, sweetheart...I'm horny!

SORRY. Just a minor loss of control.
Not something you, or the crew of the Titanic, were at all familiar with.
There is a place inside you where emotions become trapped and die,
so allow me to translate:
I LOVE YOU GO AWAY!
I LOVE YOU GO AWAY!
I NEED YOU GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SIGHT!
I NEED YOU GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SIGHT!

Go ahead and blame your parents who didn't have a clue.
(Where are you now...Timbuktu?)

The buck's gotta stop somewhere baby,
and when I say to you that you're responses are perfunctory, you say "OH?"
And when I say that you're proving my point, you say "OH?"

And still you sit there like a demented desk clerk,
while all the while your brain is screaming:
CHECK OUT TIME!
CHECK OUT TIME!

Wait a minute--you can't leave now!
 Can't just get up and walk away--
tear it all apart when we could be so together.
Ah, GEEZ!  There goes another one.

Good thing I told the waiter separate checks.








31 comments:

  1. A demented desk clerk. Know many?

    You say Timeteo, I say Timmytio.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha, I so relate to this. Dating after Many Disastrous Attempts at Relationships is a risky, mixed-message proposition at the best of times. Maybe she was just scared to death.

    Sigh. I so love: I LOVE YOU GO AWAY!!!!!!!
    I so know that feeling. I love your wonderful poems. Keep writing them!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love you go away, yep that pretty much sums me up...clever Tim

    ReplyDelete
  4. Reading this makes me wonder how love would survive (horniness always will) if we just took off the social masks and spoke the truth in the moment. Nah...it would just lead to even more confusion, I think. :)

    I loved your poem, Tim.

    ReplyDelete
  5. THINGY,
    You say thingy...I say thongy! (Youooo put a thong in my hearrrrt...)

    SHERRY,
    Thanks my lovely lady...

    LORRAINE,
    Ha...I thought you might get a kick out of that!

    TALON,
    As long as horniness survives...so do we!!! (Luv ya!)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sad 'contraries' say
    'Tis a happy today;
    -I LOVE YOU, GO AWAY-
    I hate you, please stay.

    ReplyDelete
  7. fun twists,

    I understand that kind of contradiction...love is love, friendship is friendship, we could not live without them...

    well done humor and thanks for the tickles.

    you rock.

    A++

    ReplyDelete
  8. You have me laughing at misfortunes of my own,
    All the times I tried and the birds all flown,
    All the ones with blood cold as ice,
    Still, even a cold one would suffice.

    Your rendition is priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  9. That was excellent. I really enjoyed it!

    And thanks for stopping by and joining in on my latest Limerick-Off. Glad to have you and your limericks and hope you'll join in on the next one in just one week. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. lolssss
    I loved the humor in this story!
    All through the words you expressed great liking for the lady and then.. separate checks!!

    The end was killer!
    Well written Dear :)

    Love xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. You have a way of making me laugh at serious stuff too, Timoteo! You are simply awesome!
    But really, when the message fails to get across, things can get REAL messy!! As for those separate checks, I say, good thinking on your part!! ;)
    Better luck next time... (by that, I mean, next time, have her pay yours too!)

    ReplyDelete
  12. love your bare feelings coming right out between the lines :)

    Beautiful work

    Peace

    ReplyDelete
  13. You've forced me to ponder what might be bubbling just below the surface of the many with whom I connect in the world...

    ReplyDelete
  14. MADELINE,
    That was fun...I'll be back!

    OLIVIA,
    Glad you liked that, and great to see you here!

    MAGYAR,
    I think I prefer the "I hate you, please stay!" Confucius say: "Some pigs is better than no pigs!"

    DAN,
    I'm putting my readers on notice to regularly check out the comment stream, so they don't miss any of your clever verse!

    KAVITA,
    Getting them to pay for me too...ha...I won't hold my breath!!!

    SSINA,
    Good to see you, brother!

    KIM,
    Good idea...there are volcanoes out there, and I've been called one!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Such a great write--I love the inner dialogue. Lots of fun.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Loved the clever pitch of humor, a bit of a curve there in the end, strike out time. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. ambivalence leads to despair.. great write timoteo.. thank you for this! my potluck- http://fiveloaf.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/nectar-from-heaven/

    ReplyDelete
  18. on my post today I stole your words check it ouot

    ReplyDelete
  19. I've got a few in mind I could send your very words...
    Great one, Timoteus!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Sardonic.

    Separate checks! Well done.

    Why some of us don't bother anymore. We all bring our baggage to the table.

    Fine work.

    Mine is here:
    http://musingbymoonlight.com/2011/03/06/letter-to-you-passed/

    ReplyDelete
  21. "a cryptic note I wrote to myself and can no longer decipher." You started out with one kind of longing and it morphed word by word from love to simply sex...but maybe...love is tucked in there somewhere?

    I've been married so many years, I don't know how to separate the two any more.

    a fun read nonetheless:-)

    ReplyDelete
  22. ha. your reads are always a trip...this one none the less...i am so glad i found one crazy enough to marry me...i so would not want to date again....

    ReplyDelete
  23. AKKK. I have so had this conversation. Your warped perspective on life is starting to seem like, totally not...do I need help now? This in particular cracked me up: "SORRY...just a minor loss of control--
    not something you, or the crew of the Titanic, were the slightest bit familiar with...." masterly irony, my friend, and a wonderful piece of writing.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I LOVE YOU GO AWAY (though I wouldn't mind breakfast first)

    ReplyDelete
  25. just glad i am settled...its scary out there...great poem...pete

    ReplyDelete
  26. I liked the self-contradiction of "I LOVE YOU GO AWAY!" and "I NEED YOU GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Very manic piece, Timoteo.

    Separate checks are always a good idea. :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. LAURA X,
    The poem is about withholding emotions, and when emotions are withheld, sex is usually withheld as well...so he's frustrated on both an emotional and a physical level. That's great that you can't tell the difference anymore...seems like that's the way it should be.

    OLLIE,
    If I ever learn the secret, I'll post it here on the blog, so just you and me will know what it is!

    JOY,
    If you're starting to think like me, you MAY need help...but I think you'll have more fun if you don't get any! (Any HELP,I mean...thought I'd better clarify that.)

    TERESA, REFLECTIONS, FIVELOAF, DULCE, JAMI, DUSTUS, PETE, BUBBA: Do appreciate your witty comments!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Great, great piece, rollicking and broiling all over that point in love, do I stay or do I go, breaking up structure at the forth and fifth stanza, it's super and I'm dragged along, a voyeur, implicated by my own similar circumstance, recognition of the same old war...

    ...I wonder if you can sense that you're mostly tip and very little iceberg...

    scathing,

    ...and when I say to you that you're responses are perfunctory, you say "OH?"...
    ...And when I say that you're proving my point, you say "OH?"

    it's delightful the change in pace.

    two things...

    I read '...obscenities in 'War', don't know why, and the very last two lines (I walk in the danger zone here!)...I sense there's something more...something you're holding back...

    I think great stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  29. AB THOMAS,
    Friggin' top o' the mornin' to ya!


    KOLEMBO,
    I am pleased that others are recognizing similar situations in their own lives! In the last two lines, the only thing he's holding back on is paying her tab. My philosophy: WHY SHOULD I PAY FOR YOUR DRINK IF YOU'RE GOING TO THROW IT IN MY FACE? LOL

    ReplyDelete