Sex Acts

The fiddler crab
hoists his one
outsized yellow claw
and waves it
steadily.

The grouse cock
repeatedly inflates
chest air sacs
while stamping his feet.

Like a windup toy?
Does repetition
make things funny?

Do you laugh all day?

You must be
embarrassed.

Shame is a highly evolved
sexual display
sometimes called modesty

(archaic).

We blush to think
we stood together
pointing index fingers
at ceilings

to a beat.

We regret it
and, in our defense,
we were half-hearted
always.

Source: Poetry (December 2023)