American Beauties

[Achebe]

Ineffably beautiful.
Doesn't really qualify as crit, so I'll nit
Pick, like a poster dutiful:
L7 is too raw: suggest a euphemism.

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One spring the city we lived in was sex,
caught heat in cool, rainy weather....nice start

we slept next to a radiator by a window
on the east side.....nice buildup

it was our slice of space: damp sheets,
crepe-like wallpaper, orange and yellow....perfect. I can see the room: it's familiar seedy.

For one whole season, you left your vagina
where I could find it....ugh

Later, you thanked me, but explained
there’d been a change in our story....great transition

and you left just after all the American Beauties
broke their first blossoms ..... Perfect ending. beauty and sadness at the same time. Layers of meaningful contrast: flowers blossom, love dies; buds open, thighs close, innocence and experience, newness and jadedness..... Phew. This is wonderful.