a love poem for Jack of the Beanstalk

 Jack, juggling golden eggs in the crowded loud

restaurant, likes the impression he makes, the women

rolling their R's in ecstasy between bites of fire, ready

to confess anything, their attraction to him

perhaps. Jack likes that. He dresses for effect.

His black bolero jacket frames a crisp white

shirt, his dark beard frames pale lips. He shaved

the sides of the beard to look exotic, dangerous.

I watch him flirt. I worry about those eggs

because gold is fragile. If he drops even one,

a whole earth, a sun will hurtle to the floor--

But he's agile, deft. He strolls from table to table,

careless and throwing off sparks, his body

a moving shadow, his face a flame in the dark. Behind him

spotlights pick out trumpets lifted in wild

rippling abandon. On my plate, the jalapeños

yip their agreement. In my mouth, my tongue curls

in pain. Jack catches my eye, mouths Beans

like it's a meeting place among lamplit cobblestone

streets, a stairway up to a little room with a bed.

I shake my head, focus on the eggs spinning

from hand to hand like a calendar steeped in glitter,

a souvenir from a sacrifice made from a great height.

Wise women keep both feet on the ground, stay

clear of precipice, cyclone, men in tight pants

whose legs scissor like a heron's. The trumpets pause.

In the ensuing silence, the golden eggs throb,

surge and purr like a fat guitar preparing the room

for a woman with hands like swans. Jack watches,

dares me. Were I wise, I'd slide out the door right

now, put a hundred miles between us, a road so long

and winding, he'd have no chance of keeping up or

disturbing my sleep. The glowing corona in his hands

hypnotizes, writes itself: a poem of seduction,

a fairy tale, a fable in midair. At any moment now

I will leap up on this table and dance.

Susan Spilecki teaches writing at Northeastern University and MIT. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and published in such journals as Frontiers, Quarterly West, Quarter After Eight, Potomac Review and Midwest Poetry Review. More of her work can be seen at www.buildingapoem.com.