Spring 2006 SLAM! - Congrats to the winners - see you all next time! |
PANTOUM--Seduction Small Talk Here we are, as always, in a coffee shop, smiling at each other over the steam. I've missed you, you've dreamed of me. We make an effort at small talk. Smiling at each other over the steam, we try, desperately, to be friends. We make an effort at small talk till you recall your tongue on my skin. We try, desperately, to be friends but I remember my lips against yours and you recall your tongue on my skin and we are lost! There is no help for us. I remember my lips against yours and cannot speak. You lean forward and we are lost! There is no help for us, though the waitress comes to fill our cups. I cannot speak. You lean forward and kiss me again, as on that first day. Though the waitress comes to take our cups we cannot leave each other. Kiss me again, as on that first day. Here we are, as always, in a coffee shop. We cannot leave each other: I miss you, you dream of me.
FREE VERSE--Death personified Day Lily Teach me each day, lily, how to look into your golden center, see the tiny spear pointing straight at me and the gentle black-edged impulses to curl back from your inevitable truth. Tomorrow morning I will find you withered as a crone's finger, wrinkled and wise, written all over with red veins like lines on a tiny scroll or rivers on a rolled map. Teach me how to get there as you do, honest and open each morning, your delicate flames licking the fence, fragile and wizened overnight. You are the momentary beauty-- you, the eternal peace.
|
||||||