SIT-CALM, by Rae Armantrout

In the excitement phase

we think we want something

we’re made up to seem

exaggeratedly unfit for,

say, touch.

This is the funny part,

but also the dangerous

moment. Right away

we’re talked out of it--

no harm done--

by a band of wise-acre friends.

“I don’t know

what I’m thinking,” we say,

to a spike of merriment.

Here is the warm,

human part

which dissipates tension

From “Made to Seem” by Rae Armantrout. (Sun & Moon: $9.95; 59 pp.) 1995 Reprinted by permission.