Meet Doubly Cute

Ekphrasis and Ars Poetica,
Both attractive, have a dinner date.
Please, no need to individuate.

Even the algorithm they used
To locate each other beforehand
Was politely well-educated.

They felt as if they’d known each other
Since grad school, according compliments
To each other like ancient rivals,

Knowingly, warmly, incisively,
Full sentences edited in air.
One was the very illustration

Of the other one’s mirroring self,
Their whole conversation recorded
And reported twice—in a column

Devoted to reporting first dates
For the edification of readers
Presumably keen on getting dates,

And in a literary think piece
On what poets whose poems win awards
Think of award-winning poetry.

The first publication, unfairly
Maybe, seemed to favor Ekphrasis,
Quoting snippets of conversation

While more emphasizing appearance.
The second piece was clearly biased
In favor of Ars Poetica,

Publishing every word the two spoke,
Most of which, when not about themselves,
Went on and on about poetry.

Sometimes, you know, it’s that third wheel wins
By being the primary object
Of fawning gossip in absentia.