I Don’t Want a Lover

by Cesca Janece Waterfield

I want a buccaneer, I want

a pirate ship rocking

in gale force winds, I want
to plant my feet on deck and cry,
                                                   land ho

as the tallest mast you ever saw bends over
in spray and salt. Somebody get me

Vasco de Gama so I can say,
                                       You looking for spice?

I'm talking the kind of fellow
who just thinking about him makes me feel good,
so I think about him some more,
and on second thought keep finding him
the least resistible idea I ever had.

I want to sit with this man in a restaurant

and have absolutely no doubt we have

the dirtiest minds in the room. We'll split

that scene and climb inside a cab and I'm talking

this guy will tongue me all the way

downtown, right to the edge

of the sea. We'll stand and look out over

the water, hips facing west,
turning east, till Vasco roars up, planks groaning
with Chinese silk, Madagascan cinnamon, French caramels,

and then we’re gonna get on that heap and sail.    

* * * * *

"I Don't Want a Lover" was previously published in Cesca Janece Waterfield's first collection, Bartab (Two-Handed Engine Press, 2010).