Sonya Gets Ready 1973 Poem by Terry Collett

I read to him
from Kierkegaard
he read Dostoevsky.

We lay on the bed
in our Parisian room
in that cheap hotel.

We had the narrow window
open to the evening
smells and sounds.

We are going out later
for a meal and drinks
soak in the atmosphere
the art
the lives
the history.

We made love
some hour ago
still there
that after glow.

We played
our sex games
that sexual foreplay.

I close
the Kierkegaard book
Benny shuts
the Dostoevsky
with a smile.

Best get ready
I say
into something cool.

He nods at me
and lies there
eyeing me
as I undress
piece by piece.

I go into
the shower.

I guess he's
listening
to the water run
imaging me
in his mind
having his
own inner fun.