I see you in airy pleasure—
arms loose and languid,
face framed, incandescent,
pale and shaded as the Rainmaker’s moon.
I connect images
as I collect a sense of you.
I want to learn the imperfections
you charge yourself with.
So that I may present them to you, singly,
as cherished wit, warmth,
the tease of irony and intelligence.
I will not love you lightly.
I will not leave you disregarded,
not let disagreement simmer as bitterness.
In a darkened theater
we pass a look
that is both curious and caring.
Concentrating on dialogue, the play of actor and plot,
we have not stopped for breath.
Caught in the same place, we breathe again.
You curve hands around my wrist, my forearm.
“Kiss me,” you whisper.
And I do.

R.T. CASTLEBERRY is a co-founder and director of the Flying Dutchman Writers Troupe, a literary performance group, and co-editor/publisher of the Flying Dutchman Writers Troupe poetry publication Curbside Review. Mr. Castleberry has been publishing poetry and fiction since the early 1970’s, most notably in Travois: An Anthology of Texas Poetry, Stone Drum, Another Chicago Magazine, Zuzu’s Petals, Poetry Motel, Borderlands, Illya’s Honey, Main Street Rag, RiverSedge and Poet Lore.