A Lull In The Shelling Poem by Roger Gerald Hicks

My girlfriend tells me her girlfriend read someplace
women prefer unflappable men. And she goes silent.
It means something when she goes silent, but
whatever I assert will be wrong.

"Do you prefer unflappable men, " I ask,
knowing well I'm not in that category,
clueless why not. "I've never heard
flappable used in my life, "

"Me neither, " she admits."But it pertains
to male-female relationships."

"I'll check Google for flappable, "I mutter,
whipping out my phone.Click-click-click.

Oxford dictionary. Adjective. Excitable
and quick to lose one's composure.
He became flappable in her presence.

As a weak rebuff I say: "Women prefer men
who treat them like patrons, or sly fellows
after their inheritance.''

"I'm going to shower, " she says, a warning:
This isn't over yet. She thinks deeper
washing her hair.

I imagine a cocker spaniel father had
in his hunting days.That dog's ears flapped
and undulated in the wind as it ran.

"Are duck's wings flappable, " I voice
over the shower.More silence.

As always before the barrage.