Unexpurgated

by Lisa Nold

One night, while floating on a wave
of boredom, I reach for the Kama Sutra,
not a graphic version, mind you,
but an all-text version, which I had at one time
bashfully fished from a Cambridge Goodwill.
The pages are yellow and stiff from decades of
no use and they make me think of the former
owner, the ghost at the other end of the book,
a tweedy professor behind black-rimmed glasses
who puts a finger to his temple as he considers,
as I do now, The Embrace of Friction and
The Grasp of the Serpent, both of which require
geometrical thoughts that are difficult
but not impossible and lead us to continue with
Caress of the Forehead, Caress of the Jaghana,
and Union of the Sesame Seed with the Grain of Rice,
which, quite frankly, makes me giggle, but not him,
because we’re getting the hang of it now, moving
smoothly with Caress of Two Thighs,
Caress of Two Breasts, Union of Milk and Water.