Original photo at: http://www.poetspath.com/exhibits/exhibitsimages/paul_blackburn.jpg

(an answer to Paul Blackburn’s poem “Once-Over”, partially quoted at: http://lutheransurrealism.blogspot.com/2008/05/blackburn-ii.html .)

You’ve got
                X-
                   ray
                       eyes
And it’s
               no
                  sur-
                       prise
That you focus them on:
                                    The tanned blond in the green dress,
                                    Me,
                                    And every other woman in the damn subway car -
And proceed to burn our clothes off
With your skin-searing stares so
Radioactive;
We are REACTIVE
To your obvious ostentatious ogling.

Lust
Lays us bare
And we stand there,
A
  scattered
                 collective,
Brushed by a sweep of your panoramic paint
One
Woman
At
A
Time.
I don’t mind
An occasional appreciative glance –
But boy, you’d better
Get your too-long-staring
Eyes
OFF
Of me.

Written 5/21/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.