“Flirtation”
If I wanted you, could I have you?
You said to me in my head.
Is that a question of capacity
or permission? a small voice said.
The answer in either case
is probably not. You clapped then.
As if I had said something clever.
It was a pleasure speaking with you
as if you were the kind audience
I had always wanted: so perfectly
attentive, generous, and absent.
[Also published in Feathertale, 2016.]
