Naked

Jennifer Michael Hecht

The reason you so often in literature have a naked woman

walk out of her house that way, usually older, in her front garden

or on the sidewalk, oblivious, is because of exactly how I feel right

now.

You tend to hear about how it felt to come upon such a mythical

beast,

the naked woman on the street, the naked man in a tree, and that

makes

sense because it is wonderful to take the naked woman by the

hand

And know that you will remember that moment for the rest of

your life

because of what it means, the desperation, the cataclysm of what

it takes

to leave your house naked or to take off your clothes in a tree.

It feels good to get the naked man to come down from there by a

series

of gentle commands and take him by the elbow or her by the hand

and

lead him to his home like you would care for a bird or a human

heart.

Still, if you want instead, for once, to hear about how the person

came to be

standing there, naked, outside, you should talk to me right now,

quickly,

before I forget the details of this way that I feel. I feel like walking

out.