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The Conversation


by Philip F. Clark


You leaned into me, close,
with the ease of years,
with the camaraderie 
of touch; a soft laugh

at some common folly
we shared; you opened,
your voice a temptation -- 
low in the dark -- beset

with this mundane act
of so much to say.
And it was that, you and I -- 
clothed and comfortable

in the presence of random
thoughts and questions,
aroused by speech
and what might be spoken.

Listening is loving. 
What is more erotic than 
these fathoms, skeins, words, 
roping tight the ardent ear.

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