The Pursuit of Knowledge

By Donna Hilbert

I learned about sex from Freud and Grace Metalious,
a few details and the will to know.
From Interpretation of Dreams,
I learned the word libido,
rolled it around my mouth like sour
lemon candy. On the days I ditched school
I smoked Camels and read over and over
the good parts of Peyton Place
now loose pages in my hands,
how Rodney Harrington reached for Helen’s
bare hard breast,
not noticing the lights until she screamed,
the lights of the truck that changed everything,
that trailer truck barreling down
the highway toward them.

From Deep Red, Event Horizon, 1993