but usually paid the price.
Virginity you ask? Do men give
that away? Don’t we just...
Oh, never mind, I suppose
I did give mine but I think I gave it to me
very carefully after 24 hours consideration
of her question Well? Are we
or are we not? I was 17
and she was 24. Uh, yes!Yes!
Giving what you have away
Giving what you have away
—might imply throw it
to the wind or distribute
randomly out the car window
as you pass through the bowry.
The nagging truth is that
the phrase could be construed
as impedimenta—a lovely word
I recently heard used by an eminent biographer
who seems to relish in things given
and received especially reluctantly.
As I was saying, if I chose
the Buddhist gate they’d stop me
no question and say Wait a minute!
Hang on hang on, you haven’t given it all away.
And I would balefully show them my empty pockets
—a mimed affair since I’d be starkers—
and say Oh Come On I didn’t bring anything with me.
What’d you think happened to it then?
Ah yes. The truth is I’m a hoarder.
A disease. It crawls in your windows
and up your trouser legs when you’re wearing them.
Throwing away is practically
impossible. Every scrap of wood
at our place is inventory and that goes for all
the nuts and bolts in the workshop. Books?
Forget it! Not quite true since
I really love giving people books
but I do catch myself picking up doubles
of say, Philip Larkin’s Collected Poems
because I know I’m itching to give one away
but where would that leave
me? Now advice?
You can have that for free. It's yours.
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