Acute Trigonometry

 Truth is an abstraction.
So is beauty. Words that withhold
within
a jar of jagged rocks,
the way a falcon does not.
A falcon is a falcon unless specified
otherwise, unlike
a cunt. Nor is any
swearword.
A swearword is an accurate
exaggeration
of an inappropriate analogy.
Meaning,
calling someone acute trigonometry
is not going to offend
that person.
A swearword has to refer
to the genitalia or the modesty
of one’s mother/
sister. But mother
is an abstraction, the way motherfucker
is not
if the person referred to
is the recipient’s father,
unlike a cunt. A cunt is the object
of a centripetal force.
Meaning,
if you tattoo your cock
to make it resemble a bee, yours
will not become the queen,
it will still be
a drone.

Grey’s Anatomy

At the library, a pair studied anatomy lessons
on each other’s bodies. His left hand
deep inside her pants, excavating perhaps
a Bronze Age medallion, though she

complained from far above. Her right hand –
a miniaturized Pompeii – likewise buried inside
his pants. All of a sudden, he erupted
like an amateur archaeologist too eager

to please his guide when his trowel had hit on
a dent in the texture. It was she who triumphed
first, resurrecting from the debris
the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

~~~

Shriram Sivaramakrishnan recently completed his MA in Poetry from Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, UK. His have appeared in Allegro, Vayavya, Bird’s Thumb, Uut Poetry and so on. He tweets at @shriiram.