ADULTS ONLY
We have options like optometrists, lens upon lens
to look upon the world, within ourselves, and when
the rough edge sounds redundant, I find Stafford
trapped in a cage with a wild woman farmed bare –
and I remember my first jolt, where my eyes fixed,
trying not to stare. Even as the Romantics pine
with illusion, truth with beauty, each detail rises
upon a landscape stirred with passion – where
mountains heave and rivers rumble in our throat.
There are options at the State Fair, every barker
with a crowd gathered ‘round, offering sweet
oddities, peeks into another world we claim as real.