Care and Feeding of the Mask

Let’s address
the care and feeding
of the mask.
The bold transgression,
contemplation, cultivation

in the task
of seizing
something other than
the breathing face at hand
to cover it

require the finest sort
of artifice and slippery
seduction –
evoking secret sweet
misunderstanding –

rash deployment
of the blessing
in disguise:
to celebrate another
baffling way

of making love
obliquely
to the eyes.
Hide behind its
bright unwise surprise.

.