Scholars in Love

This used to be called Mind F*****g...see what you think.

“The purely private is not real,”

he says, but she knows

otherwise.

 

Translating the intimate whisper of separate pencils on paper,

giving voice to the philosophy of coupling,

while explaining Peircean pragmatism.

Proving

conversation is superfluous.

 

Neither looks when the other does speak, yet

rapid-fire connections and cross-references flicker across synapses

while attending to dinner.

(Sparring words, liberally used in class, have no place at the table).

 

Brushing teeth,

a clamorous swishing, gargling, spitting and rinsing

twin Rorschach blots of paste, leaving

that fine spray of white on their dual reflection.

 

Climbing into bed,

a sonorous easing, groaning and squeaking of

decades’ coils catching

their bodies in side-by-side hollowed-out spaces.

 

His glasses slipping down his nose;

hers remaining firmly

pressed into dents,

as they peer into books.

A quick lick of cross-hatched fingers turning pages, then

turning covers up, blanketing the slumber of a mingled unconscious.

 

Searching for knowledge,

thirsting for truth,

reaching,

just beyond his head to take a sip of water from their communal glass on the nightstand.

Interpreting his foot

(grazing her toe in the grey light of dawn)

is the abstract summary of an economy of dialogue.

She understands the language.

 

Reviews

[Greg the Bard]

There was a time that I thought I could fool my parents only to find out they knew better from the start. That's what this work reminds me of with an great open and the ending confirming my point. This is a wonderful poem the way it flows and its pace. The images go from stanza to stanza but are not the same repeat as before. Great work

[Ed Hart]

This is not "mind f*****g."

[Silvia - Scribo, Ergo S..]

"Interpreting his foot
(grazing her toe in the grey light of dawn)
is the abstract summary of an economy of dialogue.
She understands the language" .... this is symptomatic for the private "conversations" lovers can have when they REALLY know each other. Splendid poetic observation!

[I.R.]

Oh, this made me take a long sigh after I finished. Your language and poetic tools are so sophisticated. I loved the specific imagery like the how their glasses rest differently upon their nose, the brushing of their teeth, and especially the last stanza. You also provide great rhythmic devices; the stanza about the brushing teeth showcases one of the best examples. An amazing piece, in my opinion.

[J]

Oh. Your title is delicious ~ one absolutely must have a read. And be astounded at the intimacy and comfort of these two ... at the writer for her astute awareness and articulation. I had goosebumps that started at the crown of my head and flashed the length of my body. I smile and nod my head at the bare nakedness of this piece, the complete originality of the words you string together so effortlessly.

"Climbing into bed,
a sonorous easing, groaning and squeaking of
decades' coils catching
their bodies in side-by-side hollowed-out spaces."

Ahhhh, I know this scenario.

Beautifully intuitive write.

~j

[Robert Bean]

A wonderful look into a well oiled relationship, the every gaze well known and loved.....do you think they are happy, or merely content?

[Skye Céibhfhionn]

I absolutely adore your layers and play on words; showing the activity of Minds and their manifestations in themselves and together.. The synchronizing effect of being drawn Mindfully; and timeless.. In moments of complete physical experience.
You master moments here that I rarely see people pen down; in such a wonderful order of Life. To be Alive and Aware..

Fantastic!

I love the way your poem has larger spaces between the line; for the allowance of reading what is not written - experience what is not explained; and breathe what would seem to be utter breathlessness of being.

Thank you for your creativity!

Skye

[Troilus]

After the passion curve diminishes, what does a loving couple have left? Love, in all the mundane and intimate spaces. I think you did a fine job describing the reality of love in the mature relationship. "Superfluous conversation" is a wonderful description for communication between lovers that is really beyond the spoken word, that is more on the level of telepathy. This is a poem I find very comfortable and familiar to the experiences of my own life. The only part of the poem that jarred me out of the comfortable mood was the reference to "Peircean pragmatism." The mood is very important to the effectiveness of this poem, and I would like to lounge and feel that familiar body next to mine from the beginning of the poem all the way through the foot grazing the toe at the end. Other than that one slowing of energy flow, I think this is a good poem.

[Nannette LaRee~]

I loved how you penned this, how you show us that two mind can connect on a level not heard or seen...BEEN THERE! This is going in my file!

[R J Askew]

Well, I have my glass or red wine in my hand, having struggled home from Canary Wharf to St.albans and picked my youngest up from cubs. I smile and lift glass to computer screen and say cheers Lydia, I enjoyed that delightful read. I was titillated by the title before I left work but found the poem to be very different to what I had expected and all the better for that. The understanding and observation of a well settled man and woman bondage is both tender and humerous, as is the title. And the execution has an economy of movement about it, mirroring the undemonstrative and orderly lives described. Yet it is touching that they seem to be in such harmony. I am sure many married couples will recongise this derivative f*****g, when the bother of actual physicality becomes delightfully spuperflous and spares the laundry too, practicallity becoming progressively more important than wild romance as the years pass. 'flickering across the synapses' I nodded approvingly at and the tooth-brushing ceremony was almost at the essence of their lives. I don't know what Peircean or Rorschoch mean. But that is not a criticism. I thought this an intelligent and engaging piece and found its reservation as powerful as that of a poem which comes at you like a hungry bulldog, spreading its saliva everywhere. Loved it.

[Phillip J Clayton]

just lovely, siductive, erotic, i love it, flows nicely too, and the format is beautiful, cheers!