LIPS I WOULD KISS


When I go for a slow walk
up and down Geary Avenue
I screen all the women like
an amateur casting director.
Most are too tall and thin
or too short and sadly obese.
Nearly all faces are not pretty,
a downward cast to their mouths.
Unfortunately, most bodies I see
are aesthetically well below par.
I rarely see a face as delicate
as Claire Bloom or Liv Ulmann
with lips I would want to kiss.
Humphrey Bogart might wait
a long time before I found him
another perfect Lauren Bacall.