Manacea

Once upon a time, I briefly "dated" a guy whose real identity will be concealed. Let's call him Ted. It became readily apparent to me that Ted was a very dependent person. Admittedly, I am an independent person by nature and nuture, but I do feel that a healthy amount of dependence is a positive thing. His approach, I fear, was more like static cling. I realized that this guy was unknowingly in search of a kind of panacea. A panacea was highly sought after by Medieval alchemists as a cure for all ills. A serum for long life, in a sense. Being the crafty wordsmith I claim to be, I made the connection that Ted was in search of his own kind of panacea. It was a manacea. So that was the back story of this piece.

Man-a-ce-a (man-UH-SEE-uh). n. 1. Cure for all sexual ills. 2. Warm body.

Cuddling in your bed,
he was your climate control,
your terry cloth mother,
the logical conclusion to your emotional wreck.
Like the safety of an airbag
inside a crushed-in hull,
collapsing upon you with
the feeling of touch.


Fortunately, I didn't take it the wrong way.