Thoughts on Being Asked to Perform at a Hip Party for a Bunch of Successful Artists and Theater People

If I kiss her it's art but if I spank her it's
What
With a clip on mic it's art but with a hand-held mic it's
What
If you know where it starts and when it stops then its art but
If the time and place run down your body as rain
Dance as a tormented child
Appear as a vision and whisper and leave
Without a playbill
Without flashing lobby lights at 7:55 then its
What
If the doer and the viewer are kept safely apart it's art
But if the security guard quits then it's
What

If I touch you without your objection but without your
Permission
If I take something precious from you
Promise to return it only
If you ask
If I give you
What you wanted but not
What you asked for
If Darwin's law of survival
Is manifest if I
Take
The measure
Of the force with which you are prepared
To enforce your standards
Of inclu
And exclu
sivity

If the pretense of safety
Is abandoned

If testosterone's truth is laid bare,
Greed for the sake of the self

If estrogen's truth is laid bare,
Greed for the sake of the children

If the sad truth
Is laid bare
That we cannot survive alone
And we cannot trust each other's
Hormone
Driven
Greed

Faced with the truth we might feel forced
To take a role
Block it out
Stick to the script
Pretend we can keep
The doer and the viewer apart from each other
Preclude the possibilities
And make art.