Never,
was I great at tying knots in the Boy Scouts;
Square Knot
Clove Hitch
Bowline
Sheet Bend
Two Half-Hitches
and the Taunt Line-Hitch.
They all ran together
and daunted my clumsy fingers,
yet I persisted and received my badge

A year later
I was not in Boy Scouts
and I had no use for knots
So I soundly forgot everyone of them
All that knowledge had leaked from my brain
wiped clean memory as if it had
never been.
I even sucked at tying my shoes.

Fast forward, thirty years later
I took up knot tying again for other reasons
less academic
and most assuredly extracurricular.
Your earnest eyes came seeking it, calling for it
needing it.
I answered your compulsions
as they mirrored my own,
proudly perverse in spirit.

I am still clumsy, still fumbling,
but my passion for you will carry
me through to mastery one day,
for a sureness of hand
along with a clever
deftness of skill
to intertwine your body,
quench your desires,
and a satiate soul seeking
to be tied to me and by me
forever.

by Philip Wardlow 2019