Good Etiquette -- a poem published in the QLRS in 2007

I have been writing for a long time now. Here's a poem I just stumbled on under my nomme de plume, Ra Gabriel (which became Gabriel Ra in Singapore):

Good Etiquette

keep it short and neat,
like rows of Japanese lettuce
like a schoolgirl's
— Did you know they shorten uniforms
by rolling skirts at the waist? — hairstyle,
eat with the mouth closed like it matters
like we're not barbarians clawing crab flesh
on our first date
after a quick kiss by the steps - you have
to take the train - I see the gangster
tattoo on the back of your soft hand.

You see I see it.
We say nothing

never speak again.

By Gabriel Ra

QLRS Vol. 6 No. 2 Jan 2007

_____

Find the original here: Quarterly Literary Review Singapore (QLRS) -- http://www.qlrs.com/poem.asp?id=576