Massage to Remember

Massage to Remember

a honed wooden bed, slightly convex
guttered edges to catch the oil
lashings of which dumped on naked flesh
massaged with hands "expert" at this

“ayurvedic massage very good” they said
“for heart, muscles, joints and head”
as I, stripped bare but for loin cloth
lay there, bait for predatory swoop

upending oil from long handled ladle
masseuse commenced untender assault
up and down, left and right...
like scaling a fish on a grocer's table

coconut oil spooling on all sides
my efforts at being stationary futile
“slip sliding away" in my thoughts
massage “bed” it was clearly not

heels and palms begging for purchase
against slippery sliding wooden surface
clawed hands, clenching woodwork
heels searching for hidden foothold

abdominals, glutes, thighs and calves
contracted to keep from flying off
horizontally mobile and landing splat,
an undignified heap on coir floor mat

she finally moves to my neck and scalp
a hundred coconuts must've died for this
with every other muscle in spasms
at least the head massage was bliss

a hot bucket bath, and myself once more
feeling less like a gutted bream
lesson in this: research before
one tries massages this extreme