Poem by Cherly Lewis & Artwork by Kate Awalt-Conley

Connubial Bliss Is Overstated

After gnawing need for sex
is less what endears a man to me—
24/7 is a long time laid

end to end. I keep
old lovers close—no sense
losing touch because

I’m not inclined to cling
like static-stuck socks clutched
by items plucked from heat.

I’ll forego tired toast and eggs
over easy, my notion of life
not broken shells and empty plates.

For excitement and ease
I want a like-minded man,
devoid of cinch or strangle—

a pliant man who’s apt to last
beyond that pinch of boredom.

Connubial Bliss Is Overstated

After gnawing need for sex
is less what endears a man to me—
24/7 is a long time laid

end to end. I keep
old lovers close—no sense
losing touch because

I’m not inclined to cling
like static-stuck socks clutched
by items plucked from heat.

I’ll forego tired toast and eggs
over easy, my notion of life
not broken shells and empty plates.

For excitement and ease
I want a like-minded man,
devoid of cinch or strangle—

a pliant man who’s apt to last
beyond that pinch of boredom.

Cheryl Lewis lives in West Virginia with her dogs Zoe and Rio. Her poetry has appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Astropoetica, The Healing Muse, Rock and Sling, Saw Palm, and Weber—The Contemporary West, among others.  

Kate Awalt-Conley is a visual artist based in Boston and New York. She recently graduated from Wesleyan University with majors in studio art and anthropology. She was recently the Fine Arts Winner of the i-D Magazine and ARTSTHREAD Global Design Graduate Show.

Artist Statement:

I make extremely detailed and very small oil paintings depicting images which navigate how intimacy and losing control are related. I try to conjure the fantasies we make around our own fears of losing control over our desires, ourselves, and our histories. I think about the messiness, weirdness, and discomfort in sex, intimacy, and recently cyberspace. I hope that the strange moments of being that I paint invite viewers to pause and find pleasure, or discomfort, in what is typically suppressed.