Safe Sex by Donald Hall
If he and she do not know each other, and feel confident
they will not meet again; if he avoids affectionate words;
if she has grown insensible skin under skin; if they desire
only the tribute of another’s cry; if they employ each other
as revenge on old lovers or families of entitlement and steel—
then there will be no betrayals, no letters returned unread,
no frenzy, no hurled words of permanent humiliation,
no trembling days, no vomit at midnight, no repeated
apparition of a body floating face-down at the pond’s edge Art by James Needham
Recommended listening: Songs of Grief and Solitude - Drudkh Palace - Wild Beasts
Links of the Day: How I drew a pop art masterpiece for the Beatles AOMI (a wonderful short film) Style and Substance 7 Bizarre Theories On What ‘Causes’ Lesbianism