Is/Not

The poem

Love is not a profession genteel or otherwise

sex is not dentistry the slick filling of aches and cavities

you are not my doctor you are not my cure,

nobody has that power, you are merely a fellow/traveller

Give up this medical concern, buttoned, attentive,

permit yourself anger and permit me mine

which needs neither your approval nor your suprise

which does not need to be made legal which is not against a disease

but agaist you, which does not need to be understood

or washed or cauterized, which needs instead

to be said and said. Permit me the present tense.