Loophole

- a found poem from
Limited Warranty 4943668
on a film processing envelope

Submitting myself for processing
   or other handling
constitutes and agreement by me
that I am only entitled
to replacement for damages
even due to your negligence.

My acceptance is without
   any other liability;
recovery for consequential
damage is excluded,
except for the twenty four hours
of Palm Sunday.

His wedding is Saturday
   full of woe?
Go south over the bridge
right at the light
remember the card - wrap up the gift.
Palm Sunday is over,
April marches down the aisle
garbed in the highest holy days.

Tears and ribbons stored in a crystal globe,
   confusion and doubt hidden in the cave -
Oh, Merlin, come quick, I'm broken!
There is no recourse, no magic potion,
only hope to flesh out the bone
and smiles to cover the dead.


   

 Considering your question...

      ...the arrangement of any sorts of animals must be
         founded only on the characters of their feet.
                              John Ruskin

You ask of me this afternoon
in the living autumn light,
a question.
Is it possible, could you have - 
might you have a fetish for feet?

You ask this with my left foot
cradled in the palm of your hand
your fingers slipping between my toes
your thumb tracing the bones of my arch.

I wonder where you will arrange 
this fetish animal
in the forest of your life?
In the morning haze
carelessly draped over a branch?
Or at midnight
within a circle of stones?

I am suspended in the moist
hollow of your voice.
I stroke the side of your face
and I consider.
Your breath is warm,
is quick against my skin.
My great toe has found its way
into your mouth against your tongue.

The character of my feet is urgent 
now in the face of your question.
We are arranged across this afternoon space,
across the sea of your question.

Cresting
I consider ...
I answer.