Viewer Discretion by Shane Schick

The warning was of “brief sensuality”

and we kept waiting for it to appear,

the threat of it growing more dramatic

than the violence of a gunshot wound,

the plot points leading toward it

rougher than the coarsest language

and my appetite to enjoy it

as plain (as revealing) as any nudity.

The sensuality seemed imminent

any time the proximity of bodies

narrowed within the confines

of a drawing room, or when glances

bounced back at meaningful angles.

When, finally, two secondary characters

kissed discreetly in the woods

behind the house, their limbs entwined

and the fading sun taking refuge

in her dark curls and the curve

of his back, I became conscious

that the side of my left leg was pressing

clandestinely against my beloved’s right.

My eyes saw everything, registered nothing.

I would give them as long as necessary.

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Shane Schick is the founder of 360 Magazine, host of The Owned Media Observer podcast and a fashion blogger at Menswhere.ca. He lives in Toronto with his wife and three children. More: shaneschick.com/poetry. Twitter: @shaneschick