different tastes

i was going to follow my rules and post an old something. looking back to 2007, i decided to open up the first poem i wrote for my first michigan creative writing course. i remember writing it vividly, having just left the first day of workshop in the course. one of my classmates had read a poem that, i believed, was pure spectacle. so i decided to write a poem about sex, too. a word of warning: it's not very good. it received initial praise from my teacher, but i believe he may have understood my intent and felt the same way despite it being a less-than-stellar effort.

Different Tastes

I was once asked to write a poem
About sex.

And so I wrote:

I swam across a mile-wide river
And drowned mid-way through

My patron was not amused.

“I want grunts!
And groans!
And flapping flesh!”
He said.

He wanted explosions,
Grand finale fireworks show,
But I gave him a pop,
Soft silky report,
He wanted more,
And so I told him:
“Write your own damn poem!”

My patron was not amused.