For him, being extremely pliable
is the élastique de la élastique.
He relishes being twisted so tightly
that pretzels are envious of his talent.
He relives the same resilient events:
pirouetting the propeller
on a balsam wood airplane;
flying off a finger and annoying
the irritating pigtail girl;
launching spit balls in physics class
from a finger / thumb slingshot.
But, finally, he accepts his elastic life
has not always been a snap.

After years of trying to unwind,
he is introduced to a paperclip.
The rubberneckers murmur:
“their courtship will not work.”
But he knows her rigid frame
will bring him harmony.
To prove the resisters wrong,
they perform kinetic acts together.
Just recently, he stretched
tight around a light post,
as his wife held both ends.
They created a tight, snug ring
and secured a critical poster:
the photo of a beloved tortie cat lost.
This adaptable act, a gift to each other.

Philip Venzke grew up on a dairy farm near Colby, Wisconsin. His most recent poems have appeared in Harbinger Asylum, SurVision, Portage Magazine, Verse Wisconsin, Echoes, Bramble, The Wisconsin Poets Calendar, Sheepshead Review, Illumen, Thunderclap! Magazine, and Right Hand Pointing.