Poem: "Backache"

Backache

Every part of us
alerts another part
—Kay Ryan, “Chinese Foot Chart”


When we were together,
I rubbing your shoulders,
my cock would press
against my shorts
in sympathy. My heart
would run to your fingers
caressing my scalp.
How strange that morning,
crawling out of bed,
you complained of a
backache and I felt
nothing, but helpless
to stop the two of us
from coming apart.

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