Poems
Contents
1.I Wish
2.The Pearl
3.I Exist
4.Kelly Loves Armpits
5.Today I Will Bathe
6.I Live Amongst Kings
7.Nightime
8.Now I Know
9.Washing
10.I Whisper Your Name
11.Love
12.Today
13.Then I'll Go To Sleep
14.Wet With Love
15.Swollen Drops Of Rain
16.I'm Exhausted
17.The Sheets Are Still Warm
18.Snail Mail
19.New Horizons
20.You Can Tell
21.Build Me A House
22.My Body Is A Temple
23.Inside Hope
24.The Heart
25.A Traitor's Smile
I wish I was the sweat
That trickles from your brow,
Down past your temple
Flesh, bone and jowl.
I wish I was the water
With which you quench that thirst.
Desperately you swallow
As if I were the first,
Or the last.
(Back to top)
Love was in the palm of my hand,
But foolishly,
I blew it away like unwanted grains of sand.
Grains that now sit
In the shell
And aggravate.
Many years, many tears.
May there yet be a pearl.
(Back to top)
Give me the air you no longer need
That I may live and love and breathe.
Trace the insides of my thigh
With red intent of fiery eye.
Reach me where only you go
Without you there, I’d never know
I exist.
(Back to top)
KELLY LOVES ARMPITS
Kelly loves armpits.
She loves toes and ankles too.
She loves wrists and necks, and
the soft flesh behind the knees.
Anywhere the pulse of life can be found thrumming.
But she has a particular penchant for armpits.
She sneaks up, a side long glance, a gentle swagger of the head,
pretending not to notice they're there.
Then, with a quick, yet subtle stab,
She makes her move. Deft precision, and length of tongue
Render the victim powerless. Floods of sensation
take over. Tickling giggles announce you are hers and
Encourage strength and speed.
Her body is strong, and soon, flaccid with joy, you're trying
To remove the font of pleasure. No luck.
She'll continue till she's done.
Till the flavour runs out and another armpit appears.
(Kelly is a six year old American Staffordshire Bull Terrier crossed with a Rottweiler)(Back
to top)
Today I will bathe
I will submerge my body in water
And pretend I'm being baptised
Cleansed of all unrighteousness
All worry and care
I will drift and float till love encompasses me
And I am made pure again
Tonight I will bathe
I will bathe in the smoke and boring conversation of the
Drinkers who dwell in my office, the piano bar,
Where I will sing unheard
For people who can't see or hear.
I will emerge with a fine layer of stale scent on my clothing
And a little piece missing from my soul.
Tomorrow I will bathe
I will bathe in thoughts and dreams
Of great love and tender kisses.
I will paint lanterns and burn incense.
I will wear pretty underwear and
Pretend you're holding me from behind
And remember how beautiful it is to be a woman. (Back to top)
I live amongst Kings.
Kings that need feeding,
And bathing.
I wash their hair,
And kiss their toes.
I am the Queen of these things.
(Back to top)
I toss and turn most nights,
Frustrated with too much
Room in the bed.
The curtains and lampshade observe.
I long to taste myself
In your mouth.
(Back to top)
NOW I KNOW
That's the thing with knowing.
Before you do you can't,
And after you do, you can't not.
It was a hazy and strange 24 hrs.
A gap, a slither, barely there.
But knowing comes, unannounced.
Unapologetic, unfettered.
He was a young greek boy
I was a married woman.
Married and invisible,
But not to this raw Adonis.
He had language, words I'd never heard
Words I wanted to hear but I didn't know.
And now here they were, taking me, by surprise.
The night before, separated.
The night after, separated.
But this night, married.
Don't try and fool me with no look in your eye,
Or empty words.
You can't, because now I know.
(Back to top)
WASHING
Everything will dry today
Great day for washing
Great day for washing sweaters
Everything gets washed.
Everything's been cleansed.
Now what?
(Back to top)
I WHISPER YOUR NAME
I whisper your name
On my bed
In the dark,
And a crescent moon
Gives a slither of light.
(Back to top)
Undeniable, unstoppable, irrepressible, unflappable,
Intangible, indelible, irrefutable, unmistakeable,
Indescribable, uncontainable, inexhaustible, undefinable
Unquenchable, inescapable, unforgettable, inevitable,
Unconditional,
Love. (Back to top)
TODAY
I smelt a rose
I cried a tear
I prayed a prayer
I breathed in air,
I washed my body
I walked the dog
I felt the sun
And thought about you.
(Back to top)
THEN I’LL GO TO SLEEP
I’ll just finish this mouthful
Then I’ll go to sleep.
I’ll just finish this poem
Then I’ll go to sleep.
I’ll just finish this CD, this letter, this longing
Then I’ll go to sleep.
Breathing has become so monotonous
Feeling so over-rated.
I’ll just finish these dishes
Then I’ll go to sleep.
Now if only I could think
Of a nice way
To stay.
(Back to top)
Wet with love
I find myself, still parched.
Longing is altogether
Lightness and darkness.
Swollen drops of rain
Announce the coming storm.
Like the return of lost love,
Who knows when it will hit?
(Back to top)
I'm Exhausted
I'm tired of thinking, longing
Wanting, sleeping, dreaming
Waking, breathing, running
Praying, eating, feeling
Cleaning, working, hoping
Talking and not talking.
I am exhausted.
(Back to top)
The sheets are still warm
How can that be?
I’ve been up for a while,
Made coffee, let the dog out;
And I’m surprised
That as I make the bed,
The sheets are still warm.
It’s as if someone snuck in
Whilst I wasn’t looking
And heated things up.
Was it you?
There’s no one here,
Only me.
I must have been hot
Last night.
(Back to top)
.
Something turned up in the letterbox today.
Something I’d been waiting for,
for a while.
It’s taken a long time to
find it’s way here.
Must’ve been ‘round the world
And back.
Everyday, I’d look to see,
Nothing.
Then one day,
There it was.
Snail mail.
(Back to top)
We think something is happening.
We think something makes our life.
It’s ‘on’ … until we grow a little.
And see this thing, this rhythm
This pattern or person
This situation,
As keeping us small,
Holding us back,
From growth and all that we can be.
Should we spread our wings
In it’s presence,
It doesn’t move and grow with us.
It doesn’t know of our pruning,
Or delight in our fresh buds.
It stamps and stomps
And huffs and puffs.
It’s funny how growth and perspective
Spur each other on, (like soul mates)
To greater heights, deeper depths
And wider vistas. A full span.
New horizons
Yearning for the courageous spirit.
(Back to top)
.
.
The way he shadows her body with his.
Like a covering.
You can tell.
He never lets too much
Space, come in between them.
He can't help it,
You can tell.
Lightly touches the small of her back
As they cross the road.
You can tell.
She’s open and soft, with faintness.
He’s eager and hard, waiting for the signal.
You can tell.
When a man like this, picks up your scent
He is out of his mind with desire.
He won’t stop and he won’t start.
When you find a man like this,
Don’t leave him unsatisfied.
Turn towards him fully
and say, “
(Back to top)
.
.
Build me a house and remind me,
what it is we're doing here.
Make it one with lots of light
So I can see you
And walk around naked with the sun on my skin
warming, our skin, drinking in our eyes
Drunk with your body.
Build me the house that I’ve always wanted.
With an open chamber and a secret passage.
With a wild garden and an outdoor fountain.
A place where we could be anything
Do anything, anything at all.
Oh, and don’t forget to give me the keys. (Back to top)
My body is a temple
.....Wherein lies a fire,
That gently caught the edges
.....Of the gauze that bound my heart.
......
My heart is a warrior
.....Wherein lies a lover,
That gently stirred my body
.....Now awake beyond return.
(Back to top)
I wish I could cork myself
In the hope muscle,
Before life and others did.
I feel it would be less painful
If self-administered.
But – this doesn’t happen.
And besides…
I don’t know,
I don’t know what resides in people.
.
I only know what they show me.
(Back to top)
My heart is like a rampant drunkard
In some delicate place.
Feigning sobriety, only for a moment,
Only to be found out.
It hopes when I tell it not to.
It loves when I tell it to stop.
It scoff’s at my attempts to control it
And knows no authority,
Save love and all its mess.
It leaps over boundaries
And reduces distance to naught.
It takes me where I think I don’t want to go.
It defies understanding and
Avoids explanation.
What can I do with you
My heart?
My wayward, errant, volatile heart.
I can do nothing and everything.
.
The heart is precious above all things.
(Back to top)
.
.
A traitors smile resembles every other.
There’s no defining feature or disclaimer,
No difference in the embrace
That would alert you to a plan.
The fool is inebriated with goodwill,
Drunk with love and kindness and friendship.
He doesn’t notice the cold glance away,
Or hear the whirring cogs.
He is warm and
His head is full of music.
He sees as we all do;
The outside from within.
He imagines many things,
But never a traitor,
Who’s smile resembles every other.
.
(Inspired by the movie Pandemonium, that traces the lives of and relationship between the poets, Samuel T Collridge and William Wordsworth)
(Back to top)
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Copyright © 2004 Debra Dicembre
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