Sex With Poets

1. Sex With Poets

Begin with simple tunes, Gregorian
chants, minstrelsy, fluid
over a pleasing drone;
start listening for
familiar motifs.
you’ll warm to it.
It will set the tone for later.

2. Sex Among Poets

Playing more than one melody
line at the same time, we had to invent
rhythm. We sang parts:
“We are five young and
pretty shepherdesses,
who skip over the hillside
playing our bagpipes.”

3. Sex Without Poets

Women drink free
for the first hour –
bar shots only.
Music’s on CD,
not the best stuff.
You remember how he wrote it.
Etude for two pianos,
it bloated to a symphony.
Eighty two pieces.
Too big. You asked him,
“What about the pianos?” and he
wrote one back in: concerto

for piano and orchestra.
Too noisy in here
for etudes anyway.

Piano and strings
trade crescendos,
ever briefer;
someone puts a hand on your thigh.

Tad Richards

If you've any comments on this poem, Tad Richards would be pleased to hear from you.