Willing to Pay

It’s your face I wanted. Spent

Days at the dentist hoping

He’d hammer the smile right.

Your face and that thing

You do with your eyes

When I get you livid. Don’t be

Flattered. Don’t be afraid.

It’s 1979 or so. I’m known

To lie about my age. My parents

Are trying again. How’s that

For language, the moans

They made making me. If only

One of them lasted longer,

If they preferred the dog to some

Other position, then maybe I’d be

The same on both sides or

A babyface the rest of my life.

This is the night of a thousand

Noses. You want entertainment,

But how can I watch TV knowing

A guy cuter than me is getting paid

To wink, and I’m the one

Willing to pay? I wonder awhile

At football. At least, I’d have had

A lovely set of calves. Everybody

Who eats loves an athlete

Naked and newly showered.

What’s fair? You got the face

And the body and the cameras

Calling while I got you

Waiting for me to put the w

Behind the o in words like

Now. Now look, I bought you

Something else, something perfect

For hanging on that wall you wanted

Up. The painter did the damnedest

Job pulling your lips close to mine.