Ted Lord

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The cock ring at the
airport metal detector
could stand as haiku


implying a race for final boarding,
the increasing incomprehension of guards
as their wands keep dowsing
the unspeakable nether region

of our traveler,
who finally comprehending,
rips open his artfully tight 501s
and, in beet red desperation,
fishes the accessory off, slamming
steel ring on metal counter,
running for the gate.

A haiku would, however,
downplay the denouement:
our traveler ten minutes later
having to shuffle past the same
guards, the same gate, plane missed,
not hesitating to retrieve what's been discarded.


Copyright 1996, Ted Lord


Ted Lord is executive director of the Pride Foundation, which funds lesbian and
gay organizations throughout the Pacific Northwest. His poems have appeared
most recently in Kansas Quarterly, Nimrod, Sycamore Review, and Wisconsin
Review.