the phone rings

i love you, she says

i love you, i respond

i will be a tad late tonight

some things i need, she says

would you like me to get them dear

i have a moment or two i can spare

i respond

i will text the list

sure you are not in the middle of something

she says, in that, i know you are writing

not at all and dear 

my Muse adores you, i respond

OK, see you when i get home, she says
the trials and tribulations of a poet
caught in a tennis match
that are the women in his life
volley after volley in an exchange
across the net, in a game of dueling loves
i so adore, my wife, my Muse

the gods must surely adore me

2/10/19