And The Men

want back in:all the Dougs and the Michaels, the Travis’s, the Erics and Josés,

they're standing by the off-ramp of the interstate

holding up cardboard signs that say WILL WORK FOR RELATIONSHIP.

Their love-mobiles are rusty.

Their Shaggin' Wagons are up on cinderblocks.

They're reading self-help books and practicing abstinence,

taking out Personals ads that say

"Good listener would like to meet lesbian ladies, for purposes of friendship only."

In short, they've changed their minds,

the men:they want another shot at the collaborative enterprise.

Want to do fifty-fifty housework and childcare;

They want commitment renewal weekends and couples therapy.

Because being a man was finally too sad—In spite of the perks, the lifetime membership benefits.

And it got old,telling the joke about the hooker and the priest

at the company barbeque, praising the vintage of the beer and

punching the shoulders of a bud

in a little overflow of homosocial bonhomie—Always holding the fear inside

like a tipsy glass of water—Now they're ready to talk, really talk about their feelings,

in fact they're ready to make you sick with revelations of

their vulnerability—A pool of testosterone is spreading from around their feet,

it's draining out of them like radiator fluid,

like history, like an experiment that failed.

So here they come on their hands and knees, the men:

Here they come. They're really beaten. No tricks this time.

No fine print.

Please, they're begging you. Look out.