The Paleontologist’s Blind Date

By Philip Memmer
You have such lovely bones, he says,
holding my face in his hands,
 
and although I can almost feel
the stone and the sand
 
sifting away, his fingers
like the softest of brushes,
 
I realize after this touch
he would know me
 
years from now, even
in the dark, even
 
without my skin.
Thank you, I smile—
 
then I close the door
and never call him again.
Copyright Credit: Poem copyright ©2008 by Philip Memmer, whose most recent book of poetry is Lucifer: A Hagiography, Lost Horse Press, 2009. “The Paleontologist’s Blind Date,” from Threat of Pleasure by Phil Memmer, ©2008 Word Press, Cincinnati, Ohio.