Ok. I feel bad that this solve is so late, because deagol made a great puzzle that included a reference to a thread that has since died.
I have to admit that he had to hold my hand during parts of it, as i was being a woman and complicating everything
Anyway, here it is, and thanks again, deagol, for your wonderful puzzles.
Sorry it's so late

Would it help if I said you were hawt?
Hodgepodge
Home-thy? pr-gate d-mine --what's this mish-mash?
A cure? multiply brain stuff... I am the dash!
Danger! also a wacko, killer or freak,
there's two acronym versions as well, I'm in all that.
Now, dear, please don't think I'm a prick,
but I'm proud, yes: though broken, I'm even in Oprah!
This is the easiest place to start.
Home
OPAthy = a cure
pr
OPAgate = multiply
d
OPAmine = brain stuff
From these answers, we see that "I am the dash" =
OPA, which is what we need to look for to solve the rest.
Danger = je
OPArdy
wacko, killer or freak = psych
OPAth
and OPA is in
Opr
ah.
So going back to deagol's poetry...
A rainbow of color and light, I am
light sheets, when in front of a line.
in front of a
line =
opaline
Between tea and sea, I am loved by les femmes
hard and dense with a glimmer --amber: a gem.
amber: a gem = t
opaz
Oh, but when having a whole city behind
I will veil any glitter, twinkle, or shine.
having a whole city behind =
opacity
Find me there, in the middle of a reference work,
amongst all human knowledge in several tomes.
all human knowledge in several tomes = encycl
opaedia
Between men and use, you'll see me decay
shriveled and dry, "no more fun," some would say.
between men and use = men
opause
Ellie, me, are thee? Yes, try saying that,
and beware of the big, black-spotted cat.
black spotted cat = le
opard
Then we have his second post, where he decided to complicate things...
CPQMENHEGFMMEDDOCPQNEDHFCFMMEDDECFMCAN==
No, no, wait a sec. Before decoding you need to de-V it. The key for that is: 3|4, 2|2, 5|1, 5|1, 4|13, 1|6, 6|7, 5|4
De-V = Vigniere Cipher
To get the key, the number pairings represent word number|letter number in the word.
Therefore:
3. opacity: letter 4 = C
2. topaz: letter 2 = O
5. menopause: letter 1 = M
5. menopause: letter 1 = M
4. encyclopaedia: letter 13 = A
1. opaline: letter 6 = N
6. leopard: letter 7 = D
5. menopause: letter 4 = O
The key for the vigniere cipher is COMMANDO.
Using it we get this string:
ABEAEAEQERAAEQAAABEBEQERARAAEQAQARAQAA==
abeaeaeqeraaeqaaabebeqeraraaeqaqaraqaa==
Which is base 64.
Decoding it gives us:
00 11 00 10 01 10 11 10 00 11 00 00 00 11 01 11 01 11 01 10 00 11 00 10 01 10 10 00 in hex,
which looks a lot like binary, so decode it as binary and get:
2n07v2h, which looks like a tiny pic.
Which brings us to
http://www.tinypic.com/2n07v2h.
And no, I'm not disappointed
