Transitory Lust For
The Golden "Cat" Man

red flag,
car stops
mumbling to itself.

an adonis on the verge
leans back into the leather seat,
bronzed and sinewy,
shirt open to belt,
a gold chain glitters
in the sweat on his, rippled chest,
his blonde hair damp,
curled at the nape.

he rides that bucking,
yellow behemouth
up the embankment,
parting a diaphenous veil of dust
to the road.
smile pulls back
over movie star teeth.
he swaggers on dismount,
like the top cowboy at a rodeo.

warm, weak at the knees
I stare,
pheremones fondle the heavy air,
fire simmers
sweet orgastic thoughts.

the car moves on.

It Begins

a youth claims the bus seat ahead
right side, window,
leaving Toronto.
he sits beneath his modishly coifed mane
resting a five o'clock, miami vice chin
upon his lady loves locks.
as she becomes siam-eased to his side
love blooms
hormones hum,
a twilight zone sifts into my mind.

unbeknownst to the new man
time counts one,
hidden behind his right ear,
at attention,
flagrantly disregarding
neatly choreographed bounds
set by stylist and spray,
age proclaims its ancient rite
on youth's inattentive head.

one white hair
begins the downward surge of sand
for this post pubescent fledgling unaware.
from a mid-life vantage just behind
i smugly ponder,
shall i pluck this unseen blight
and give you time?

Pondering Castle Ruins at Dusk

I came upon you near to dusk
waiting on this final hill
as modern sculpture, grayed stone
calm slumbering, still.

I wandered through your ghostly rooms
sparely traced by tumbled walls
seeking echoes from soft souls
who coloured life into these halls.

I touched stone with tender hand
seeking signs of yesterday
a remnant of another time
rains had washed your tales away.

Yet something of those times remain
within the spaces of your keep
the wind it piped a reedy tune
and voices murmured slow and deep.

Copyright © 2002 Patricia Cresswell
All rights reserved

About the Author

Ms. Cresswell is a poet who has just begun writing again after a twelve year hiatus. She has had two poems published in the Canadian Women's Studies/les cahiers de la femme, a York University publication, Toronto, Ontario Canada. Another recent endeavour was writing and compiling a sixty-seven page book caled "Breaking The Silence," about spousal abuse. More recently a piece of her poetry called "Sky View From The QE II" was used on the cover of the February Kudzu Monthly.

Image: "Seated Demon," Pyeter Vrubel, 1890.

Editor's note: Kudzu Monthly will be providing a more inclusive retrospective of Ms. Cresswell's work in the June, 2002 issue. (This was just to whet our reader's appetites.)