Life, Love & Sex

Life, Love & Sex

life
is to a young man
what he imagines
love and sex
with a skin mag model
would be

he imagines
himself and the model
in love
offering one another
far better love
than what
he's ever seen
and far better
sex
than anyone else
has known

but few of us 
find model-types
and when we do
their vapidity
and insanity
is too pricey
so we end up settling
for something less 

life
isn't that much different
than real
sex and love
the same old positions
one lover
maybe both
merely complying
miming the act
for the sake
of what love
is supposed
to be

life
is lying
beside
a lover
with wet
gurgling snores
who doesn't shave enough
whose ass
turned lumpy
and hair
turned
grey
long before
she decided
to cut it all
off

life
is like the 
broken-in lover
weary
of your humor
your gut
and toenails
who sometimes lies
and dreams
of other men
just as you
need to dream
of other women

life and love
feigning affection
for most of her family
and their recipes
that you
mostly dislike

life
is like love
that's not always fair
not always honest
whose sex
gets stale
whose tenderness
wains
whose ideas
and knowledge
temperament and mannerism
change very little
as they should
over time

life
is like 
old love
becoming
predictable
casting us off
in desperation
for salvation
in anything else
than the love
we deserve

life
is like love
a steady
boring
companion
who callously
shuts you up
and shoots you down
when she's had enough
of your
shit

life
is the numbness
and confusion
after sex
that it was supposed
to feel different
this time
than it did
all the times
before

life
is post-coital
snoring
farting
and staring
at the ceiling
anxious
about the kids
the bills
a mistress
an illness
the end

sex and love
no matter how good
can't dispel
what always comes
after sunday

sex
offers little relief
from the lurking anxieties
that a comfortable love
like a microwaved meal
won't
relieve
either

to preserve
what remains
of your sanity
life
like love
and sex
must be accepted
for what
it is

to preserve
our lives
we must understand
life, love and sex
is something 
far different
than a teenaged boy's
lustful
fantasies
buried
in the pages
of his father's
stroke
magazines