By Patricia Spears Jones

I watch my daily intake of cheerios, peanut butter, salad greens
I can do two major job applications per day
I can lick my wounds

What I can’t do is parse the future
Or glow in the dark

Or lick the salt from your back,
But that was a while ago and how sad to want

Your back right now or the back up or an embrace
That lasts longer than it should.

The Love Economy is complicated: affection is scarce
Jealously traded as a penny stock and pleasure calculated
On past accounts, overdue.