She's curious what advice
he gives his clients
whether she should request
a consultant's fee

for teaching him to knead
her neck and shoulders,
for leading guided walks
underneath her breasts, her hips, her chin.

What do you say to an ex-lover
now specializing
in cajoling sweet fevers
from other peoples' limbs ---

pass the butter please,
how do you like your fish?
Dinner conversation may drift
to a lexicon of innuendo

or surprise, a marlin filet
mistaken for a shirt
of crepe-de-chine.
Will she let herself

evoke their first seduction
over strawberries and tea,
his summer-colored body
eager for the lessons

she promised
in advanced geometry?
They'll postulate theorems
in concentric circles,

polygons, and trapezoids,
coordinate arcs
and draw right angles
along perpendicular,

and then parallel sides.
Does he ever use her
as a text book illustration
of unproven symmetry ?

Or in stressing sexual
misconduct among tutors of the GRE?
He'll check his watch, apologize,
an appointment he must keep.

But in the garage they'll linger
by rectangles of Honda, Camaro, Jeep.
And when they finally kiss
his mouth urgent and deep,

she'll greet the radius of his tongue,
finger the slope of his thigh. She'll test
out her belief in independent lines;
and mouthe the words good-night.

You are afraid
of a moist toothbrush, disposable razor,
fearful of the inside
of your lover's mouth.
Too terrified to pose an inquiry in short hand
positive, negative?
You imagine your date's response
I don't know .
Remembering the scent of one man
the finger tips of another
triggers the inevitable moment
when your eyes
search this new body, stop
and check for signs ---
like a pilot before the flight
records temperature and distance
knowing even this cannot ensure a safe journey.

The lovers he's had before
are now your lovers
and yours are his
their health and habits as migratory
as your own blood.

In the morning
you telephone for the test
anonymously. No way to study or plan.
The voice at the end of the line
gives you the number you will use
as your identity, sets a time and place
where you meet a man named Manuel.
No hint of this, no mark
will mar your records.
You bargain with yourself.
You'll give up kissing ---
no more dancing
of tongues. You promise to become
a condom connoisseur. Take six month tests
for HIV as if they were multiple choice.
As if the pilot knows whether or not the plane
will crash or glide across the sky
as if the sky knows what is written underneath its skin.