The latest all-my-appetites-are-natural
manifestation of self-indulgence,
rhythm of inhaling, exhaling
nights probing me, nights probing you,
why stop it This makes
me feel good, even glorious
as by what is primal, even animal,
torsos, legs, bodily appurtenances, as by what
one puts in ones mouth,
is swallowed, consumed.
We should be more temperate in all areas of our lives,
we should be less,
as symbol, to point to a new world,
everyone says so, believing it,
such a lovely rumor as the earth goes on.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 25, Issue 6.
Dale Cottingham has published poems and reviews of poetry collections in many journals, including Prairie Schooner, Ashville Poetry Review and Rain Taxi. He is the winner of the 2019 New Millennium Award for Poem of the Year and was a finalist in the 2022 Great Midwest Poetry Contest. His volume of poems, Midwest Hymns, launched in April, 2023. He lives in Edmond, Oklahoma.
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