I saw The Passion with a girl
– a girl for whom I felt
a certain amount of passion –
but between the floggings
and the dialectics
I found little opportunity to express it.

I saw Toy Story with a girl
whom, it turns out,
was simply playing with my affections.
Eventually
I got left out in the rain
forgotten.

I saw Battleship with a girl
who saw through
even my most ironclad of alibis.
One pensive look from her
and I was sunk.

I saw Joy over Christmas with a miserable miss.
I tried to see Girl, Interrupted but the phone kept ringing.
I saw The Other Woman with another woman
and tried to catch The Big Chill on Netflix
but only got the cold shoulder.

I keep trying to go out
for a dinner and a movie
to enter some darkened door
with some dame or another
but each and every time
it appears I’ve only arrived at
the final engagement.