Male Dilemma by David J Delaney turns an ordinary request into a moment of mounting dread, with a nervous narrator and a woman who cannot see what all the fuss is about.
A thumping heart, trembling hands and memories of Dad’s advice build the suspense. Dave keeps the reason for all this anxiety tucked away until the final line, delivering a playful twist on a familiar domestic situation.
Male Dilemma
By David J Delaney
Approaching now with trepidation
Heart thumping anticipation
Brow soaked in perspiration
Throat tightening asphyxiation.
Echoed voices, feeling fearful
Clouded mind now in freefall
Transfixed eyes becoming tearful
How can she be quite so cheerful?
Just in there! She softly motions
Brain is racing with emotions
Scented whiff from bottled lotions
Perfumed aroma drifts from potions.
Trembling hands begin to reach
Wishing I was at the beach
Sacred law, I’m about to breach
Remembering, what Dad did preach
Can’t do it, collapsed in beanbag
Feeling like a rung out dishrag
To all you men, keep reading a mag
Never, delve into a woman’s handbag.
Keeping The Verse Alive
Male Dilemma is shared with permission from David J Delaney through Keeping The Verse Alive, Country Campfire’s bush poetry preservation project.
By preserving poems like this, we’re helping ensure the stories, humour and characters of country Australia continue to be enjoyed for generations to come.
David J Delaney
Bush Poet • Writer • Storyteller
David J Delaney is an Australian bush poet and writer whose poems draw on a lifetime of work, travel, family, road memories, outback places and the people he has known along the way. His poems are preserved through Country Campfire as part of the Keeping The Verse Alive project.
Poems, recitals, photographs, stories and original works remain the property of their original creator and are shared by Country Campfire with permission.
