It Doesn’t Much Matter

Once a year, I like grasping bags, eating candy valentine hearts,/ scrawled with a tender message./it’s second nature,/smitten by the eye and teeth,/destroyed by the tongue/for me, bleeding in your blue womb,/like everyone’s new friend/someone only you adore,/no footmen, no stooges./Therefore reap what I had before,/on nights we watch it take place,/wait for each other to breath deep,/tinker with the coffee machine./Delayed noises, the fall of chips/rattling of poker dice./I guess they vend these things in time./Progress reports on the reptiles in your tubes./Instead of winning you over,/birth takes place,/ among younger fools,/at pony rides, auctions, inside second hand stores