Look, I don’t have to answer
that call, question, survey
and who says I have to enter
that store, school, museum exhibit
showing the last remains of the Wooly Mammoth
or the last paintings of Delacroix
I certainly don’t have to win this
board game, battle of the wits,
chess match or that debate
on the merits of certain Spanish wines
Ethiopian coffee or
Danish pastries and I am not
going to tell you my favorite
season, movie, top 40 song,
action star, book, car, vacation spot,
erotic fantasy, shock jock, rock group,
rapper nor will I share my personal
dreams, aspirations, fears, phobias,
fabrics, and I refuse to give you
fun facts about my hobbies,
nor will I disclose the pet names
I call my lovers
or the cute names I gave my dogs
or the four letter words I use
when I stub my toe, slice my finger
cutting onions
or get cut off on the highway
so don’t even try to get me to reveal
my early family life
or latent fetish tendencies…
unless of course you plan on revealing
what I want to know most like:
where you hid that bag of Lays potato chips