my box of porn
By Craig Berger
Photo by Tim Barber, from Mystic Heather and Virgin Snow

I believe in my porn despite
your scorn as you stand
disgusted holding
that crate

brimming lust 'cross the ages
pleasure soaked their
well-worn pages, I beg
please- seriously, just
leave them the hell alone

and to my swift recollection
compared to your damn
shoe and stuffed Ocelot
collections- they take up hardly
any space at all

blame tradition of man's
paternal élan to pass such
sticky wisdom perpetually
on from father to son
to son to son to son
to son

and with all the smut of
dubious quality what kind of
father would I be to deny
them such skills learned as
lying to your wife that the
camera isn't on

so, please, all I ask is a little
respect for this treasured
porn that I protect while
there's not enough here to
replace you
yet