Dialogue #1

Alarmed by arousal, overwrought but alert,
we awkwardly terminate arduous touseling.

This morning
across the parking lot
you swim through October sunlight

And clamber to the island of your closed arms.
One spicy code calibrates our responses
though, damaged by teasing, we pretend distance.
But we swing when you laugh at the leaves on my sweater.

(italicized stanza by Moira Scheuring)
circa 1990