The Toad Bar: After The Poetry Reading

We just arrived

as if in straightjackets

from the staid reading

the polite applause

the restrained titters of refined laughter.

Drenched in sweat

self-conscious

squirrelled away in a corner.

And watched

the beautiful

young couple

dance, swirl

in a slow-motion,

amorous embrace

as if they were drugged

by the seductive vapors

of her music.

And her words reached me

in my corner

and I shivered

and struggled

but gently drifted away-

and realized

this was the first

poem

I heard

today.

( published in the Somerville News)