strawberries & cream

by doreen peri

Posted to Action Poetry on 2002-06-27 07:58:00

remember when
we went out to lunch together
at the cafe out where the weather
and whether or not was shot out
by sun rays played on the rim
of your hat and the trim
of the love that balanced
on the shade of an elm
was spread out just like lust
and it was as if we were in a ship,
you turning the wheel at the healm
and i wore the pale yellow
sun dress with spaghetti straps,
lowcut to my waist in the back —

you know, the one with
the scoop neck displaying
the vacancy of doubt
framed by my liquid silver
chain, the rain from yesterday
drained beneath your boots?

and i had on those high heels
you loved so much,
four inch slip ons
with a touch of a sling
back, the exact way
you liked them
when you picked
me up falling down
reaching up
to you

remember now?
how i fed you fresh
strawberries
and whipped cream
crested with a nest of
almonds, and how
i leaned forward
just a tad
while holding
the hard wide stem
of glass ever so lightly
with my right hand,
my left finger touching
the rim of the top of the sip,
the sun shining on the dip
of tan lines framed by
the why and the why
not?

and then remember?
when i called the waiter over
saying, “excuse me, sir…
could we take the rest of
these strawberries we love
and cream back home?
would you terribly mind?
could i trouble you for the time
to do this for us and pack them up?”

and then i winked at you
and grinned and blushed –
and you and i smiled –
like rays of sun
won the day,
the waiter,
with nothing to say
except…
“ummm…
sure…
yessss
ma’am”

and when you got up,
you hiked up your pants,
so like the chance of romance
had met the machismo,
and i was a little bit shy
holding the take home
bag clutched by my hip,
sweet cream dripping
down the seam of
my skirt no longer
hemmed in,
six inches
above my
knees.

remember when
i fed you strawberries
one by one from my lips?

and oh how the grip
of your hand
on my thigh
made me sigh
when you sucked
them in!