Obsidian

Originally posted 3/6/2013.

A man who has never been rejected
is watching women on Highland Street

as if Highland Street were the ruins of a Mayan city
where these women are exhibits to be viewed

as if they were souvenirs
A man is shopping for a souvenir

among the women of Highland Street
imagining he is a prince of a lost realm

A lost realm he learned about in school
or perhaps in books from his father’s library

that displayed women as souvenirs
for the taking by princes of the realm

who may imagine themselves
against the backdrop of old roads

and palaces and even temples where men
are never rejected

because they never ask permission
when they take a woman for a souvenir of the realm

A man watches women
on Highland Street 

Imagines himself 
crafted in sharp obsidian

Ordained as prince and priest
Taker of live hearts

Imagines himself
hero of a bent myth

written by princes and priests
of the realm