The One Thing that Keeps Me from Having an Affair . . . by Ethan Goffman

is that it would violate everything I believe in
and bring great suffering to those I love
and shame upon myself.

Still James Bond
Bill Clinton and
others of their ilk
had a point.
Why not sleep with a thousand beautiful women
experience what they have to offer
learn the crannies and rhythms of their bodies
the musky smells
their moods and shifting dreams
the intimate details of their homes their jewelry
the deodorants and perfumes that infuse their skin
mingled with their sweet-and-sour sweat.

Why not
Learn the intimate histories of a thousand cultures
experience a thousand flavors
tarragon, wild mint, jalapeno, cardamom, ginger, salt and pepper
Kenyan, Salvadoran, Balinese, Inuit, Narnian
(Tiger Woods was boring,
blonde after blonde after blonde after blonde).

Why not
mingle intimately with all the world
and beyond.

Of course, I’m no Bond.
If I did attempt to stray
I would just humiliate myself.

Best to stick with the familiar and true
it takes a lifetime and more to know.

Ethan Goffman accidentally

became a poet by tagging along with his wife, the far more talented, harder

working, and prettier Marianne Szlyk, to poetry workshops.  He is still not sure how, but somehow his poems have

appeared in BlazeVox, Mad

Swirl, Madness Muse, Ramingo’s

Porch, and Setu.