By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 7 May 1998

CHANNELS

in between commercials is not enough time
  for you to appreciate
   my feminine mystique
 I've been a department store
    mannequin before
a centerfold, even
 and I want more
  out of life
than one bloodless dimension
 I want your attention
  fully focused
  on my essence
long enough to notice
  that I am
living breathing flesh
 with a soul somewhere inside
   as a perk, a bonus

you sigh
 and say
you want me
 you reach for my hair
let your hands take over
 when your tongue won't do the trick
you trip over words
 that could reach me
   but don't
because they fall short 
 of your libido

where is the grace in all of this
   the seasons crystallized
 in the shrine of the senses
 immortalized in the memory
  of ancient singing cells
no, I don't hear bells
 all silver is obscured
by your persistent yellow

if television is to be your world
       of choice
due to some kind of emptiness
       inside you
that won't allow you
  to connect more fully
with we wild creatures
     known as women
if orgasm is only
    a goal
casually reserved for
   half-time
because it's convenient
    ...I am going to slip away
to a place where you will never be
  not because I didn't offer you
        an invitation
but because you
   lost the invitation
amid the junk mail
 you never bother
to throw away