Malak Mattar, Untitled (detail), 2024, charcoal on paper

In My Imagination

(though I am sixty now) I love
to finger you much as I did the

little girl who lived in the
house next door when I was ten

touching her was a matter of
fervent curiosity to find out

how she was different and to
speculate on what the differ-

ence meant_ _ but touching you
now (in my imagination) is

something elseit is an in-
visible act of pure affection

and my plea for reassurance I
want to be comforted by the

belief that you would want me
to love you if we were together.

Published:

James Laughlin

James Laughlin is the founder of the New Directions Publishing House. His Collected Poems was published in 1994. (updated 6/2010)

Laughlin’s collection The Secret Room was reviewed in AGNI 46 by Drew Swinger.

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