Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Valentine (for Jason)

New poem here I wrote for Jason for Valentine's Day...yes, we are back together again, and I am THRILLED.

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Valentine


The mussel holds a female split.

Trees bend like flesh and branch apart.
The tenderest soul is tinder lit
The sign of all that grows is in the heart.


Boy, eating sugared balm from off my lips
Your shoulders graze soft snow that falls
Freezing freely, then melting in our heat.

That said, the dark whistles tight along you
And sings over your head, close. It is night
In the city, and cold. Close, you should know:

I have haunted your hunting ground complete

Savored the taste of your foot in the mud.
The ankle that drove it in, the muscle and the bone
The rhythm of you repeats, metes out a heavy thud.
You were never alone long, no: I followed.

I am the knight on horseback and the horse and highwayman.
I am the cab that takes you out, and brings you home again. And this
This can be our urban legend. Something elegant
written on a napkin

Or sculpted into ice in a public garden after dark…

A dream of red chambers and black stone.




In the car park there is no winter plum
To bloom red in fragile clots, make polka
Dots in snow: Our gloves are sore from
Frostbite.

We can only admire each other,
Full fine as any brush or branch.

Now, we stand together, and know
The curves beneath the coats by heart

And even without seeing, I know that I am right.

Just as in the orange light I know
That plum is red and snow is white.