Visage

for belinda

I was always taught not to stare at other people

the soul reason given that you wouldn't want them staring at you.

When I was 14, I kissed a younger cousin

as practice, she said

for the pink shadows that futures will invade. /whispered to her

that whatever happens within the blackened Good and Plenty saliva we would share

couldn't be counted as the normal wear and tear of satisfaction

but when our tongues touched, she told me of the things you leave in the

river; an analogy perhaps of desirable sunrises, or shores where the turtles

remain upright after the high tide. Like dividing our Cadbury mini eggs,

our prejudice would part us.

In our make believe wood

I've seen the sasquatch paw-prints  in that snowy dark

and measured them with my own Black foot. Asked the all

important question to the statue of "equestrian clouds",

hung a quick left with my cousin smoking Newports

and ain't it strange this mixing of metal metaphors as some allowed

dimensional difference? You've watched the glimmering pennies

in the fountain and admitted that you never even once,

with that bad-a*s Midwestern bravado, made a secretive wish.

And that wish you said to have never made, was neither a prayer to

omnipotence or beauty, but to some thinly

clad nymph that presided over passions, loneliness  and withy

moonlit skies.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i was always more worried about throwing the pennies and watching them sink...not sure i even made a wish...or had anything i thought i needed.

i love the adolescent aspect of practicing kissing and then wondering what the feelings were all about...
and how we would either forget or treasure the moment...

i used to have that eastern bravado, now i have the bad-a*s midwest bravado...:)))

as usual, you are just full of great insights with your words.

jacob

[Ed Hart]

i am always deeply moved by your strength of expression, and yet vulnerability...you go way out on a limb, and then you keep going; it's flight, i'm sure

[emmajoy]

There's such magic in this! Isn't it wonderful when memories take you back to emotions you might not have held so dear at the time but bounce back at you.. for whatever the reason! I've snatched small excerpts and strung them in a seeming confusion of feelings felt: '

'I kissed a younger cousin - as practice, she said.. as the normal wear and tear of satisfaction.. but when our tongues touched, .. Like dividing our Cadbury mini eggs, our prejudice would part us... to the statue of "equestrian clouds",.. that you never even once, with that bad-a*s Midwestern bravado, made a secretive wish... to some thinly clad nymph that presided over passions, loneliness and withy moonlit skies.'

Not sure that messing with someone else's writing is permissable or polite.. but those phrases i quote are so distinct for me. Perhaps there's more than one story - thought, memory in your writing.. whatever.. tis special.

[writing mojo]

I love how your thought process is led by matter and all it's fascinating states. I was watching a Ginsberg biopic today..and he explained poems are in the context of a sigh, starts at the chest and makes it's way around the shoulders until released into the breath of human timing.. This is wet, and there's an inanimate molecular theme here that only a physicist could understand..your the best at this type of connection.. the most trivial things you bring to there purest elemental form...always love having your work under my microscope...excellent piece

[kmartell]

Very good. Maybe I will start writing again. You get better, every time I read whats written. Your writing inspires me. thanks keith

[Olivia]

this is brillant!
you catch the curosity of kissing and feelings so nicely
And this poem just zomms through your brain wonderfully

[Emily B]

sometimes, when i read you, i have to just sit and pause, my chin on my hand and re-trace the paths that the words took, i think if i spent more time in your words i would be much better off

[kay writer]

love your beggining paragraph. it really drew me into the rest of the poem. great job

[Beccy]

Your style is at once unique, yet at the same time, instantly recognisable. This bewitches and beguiles, and like WK, I'm so glad you write as you do; for me, stanza three in particular stands out in what is a superb and intricate piece of writing.

Beccy.

[Grant Duncan III]

"made a secretive wish." I really enjoyed reading this. I read it a few times actually and I took different things from it each time. Thank you!