Diana's Ploys For Salty Boys Poem by Robert Rorabeck

How easily the lifeless men poke their
Heads out of the shells of broken down school
Buses, covered in heliotrope motor-guts,
And being congratulated by the alligators and
Forget-me-nots;
But do you really want such men, eyes so
Nocturnal and fibrillating; they are not rich;
They’ve given all their money underneath the goldfish
Making wishes;
And they only drink cheap rum, and sway that way
Real instep waves do underneath the covered walkway
Into school: Arms around each others’ shoulders,
Swaying, singing a sea-shanty for you, their coy
Naiad- their queen, but will you be good to them,
And let them pool and run around in your shadows like
Silver roe; or aren’t you not Diana’s assassin-
What mean thing will be the end result of the infatuated
Metamorphosis. Rather, instead, feed them popcorn
And tatter tots and watch them leap around the shoals
Of your coral aerie; and watch them play baseball for you, poorly,
And mount the field even as the propitious storms bring
Braver, better men to be enraptured by your ploys
Of angelic bone structure, such kryptonite for these
Salty boys.