The Female Of The Species For Terri And Ali Poem by r james sterzinger

the female of the species

1. your never know, you know?
yes, your really never know
behind the beauty
behind the smell
behind the batting eyes

the whole thing can lie dormant
ten years, twenty years
but then one day you truly
understand her
and what makes her tick
and germinates the monster inside

2. his sis- in- law severed her man's finger
in a door
it may have been the only part of him
that was redeemable for the judgement
but she did it.

3. so her sister decided it would be a fine night
to release the self same judgement on her spouse
that night he found out
he was a lousy lover
his kids hated him
and his Spanish was equally lousy.

so he went to the deck
and stared out into the stars
pins of light in a sea of dark
he figured then that maybe
that was good enough for God
all that vast space
all that little light
all that infinite
but it wasn't going to float his boat.

there was that much space
and void
and that little light
from his side of the bed
to her's on any given night.

so he resigned to love
her no longer
to move on
to regroup the mustard
he had inside
before she came along

before the house
before the dog
before the kids
before it all got so crazy and distant.

4. that's how God does His stuff
He doesn't heap stars one on another
Halley's only comes every seventy-five years
the biggest of oceans are separated by
continents of rock or ice

so he made the decision to move on
Ahab, be damned
if you drown you drown
it's a simple act really
everything congeals, then falls apart
it is the natural order of things.
it's the way God does business
and we must too
for our years are shorter than His
and we have the female of the species
to send us off, to send us off.