A Feeling for Bicycle Maintenance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Now and then, people get in touch to suggest my poetry lacks humour. Well, there is a wry humour running through many of my poems if you care to look for it and happen to be receptive at the time.

Whatever, never let it be said I’m not always up for a laugh…

Sadly, this is not an autobiographical poem, but one inspired by two guys who have been partners since one was 25 and the the other in his late 40's. Society may be judgemental, but love and close friendships are rarely inclined to take any notice. So let the local gossip machine go into overdrive, so what...? 

Each to his or her own, YES. <>

  

A FEELING FOR BICYCLE MAINTENANCE 

It was in a (gay) coffee bar

that he started chatting me up,

but he didn’t get very far

since I wasn't really into sex

any more

The young man was Tim;

we had fun teasing each other,

but my mind was less on him

than reliving the past in one cup

after another

He put it to me he liked older,

and older like younger, didn’t I?

I had to confess, mind 

and spirit care less where body 

so out of practice

It’s like riding a bike, he said,

and promised to give me a hand;

I insisted I'm too old,

he was mistaking brass for gold,

and it was his round

He drove me home in his car,

and parked right outside my house
(still massaging my knee);
I asked him in but needed to pee
and review the case

He suggested we go to bed

and I hadn't a clue what to say

till a disarming grin put me

in a spin, and the sex we had later
we still enjoy today

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010