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Aug. 22nd, 2005
Greatpoets Plus
Aug. 22nd, 2005 09:51 pmCreatively lj-cut to display the best parts.
When a Woman Loves a Man
by David Lehman
( Read more... )
And when she says, "I'll never speak to you again,"
she means, "Put your arms around me from behind
as I stand disconsolate at the window."
( Read more... )
When she says tomorrow she means in three or four weeks.
When she says, "We're talking about me now,"
he stops talking. Her best friend comes over and says,
"Did somebody die?"
When a woman loves a man, they have gone
to swim naked in the stream
on a glorious July day
with the sound of the waterfall like a chuckle
of water rushing over smooth rocks,
and there is nothing alien in the universe.
Ripe apples fall about them.
What else can they do but eat?
( Read more... )
"I've been fucked without a kiss," she says,
"and you can quote me on that,"
which sounds great in an English accent.
One year they broke up seven times and threatened to do it
another nine times.
( Read more... )
When a woman loves a man, she wants to stay awake.
She's like a child crying
at nightfall because she didn't want the day to end.
When a man loves a woman, he watches her sleep, thinking:
as midnight to the moon is sleep to the beloved.
A thousand fireflies wink at him.
The frogs sound like the string section
of the orchestra warming up.
The stars dangle down like earrings the shape of grapes.
I was going to give you a plus. Here's the plus.
I am bigger for every day I've lived. My life is full-- not 'it has things in it' but is full to the brim --of things that I love fiercely, that I want, that I am attached to, but that are not me. The world is my fingernail, the world is that callus on my toe that lets me walk on gravel but sheds slowly in a procession of different skin cells.
I wish I could draw pain out of others' worlds. I wish I could pump this sense of rightness out of my chest and into you like some sort of firehose parody of penis-in-vagina sex and leave you dripping with it. Instead all I can do is say, soon the tomatoes will be ripe! and, let me feed you chicken.
It's not helplessness to be a part of a solid world around a crumbling house.
When a Woman Loves a Man
by David Lehman
( Read more... )
And when she says, "I'll never speak to you again,"
she means, "Put your arms around me from behind
as I stand disconsolate at the window."
( Read more... )
When she says tomorrow she means in three or four weeks.
When she says, "We're talking about me now,"
he stops talking. Her best friend comes over and says,
"Did somebody die?"
When a woman loves a man, they have gone
to swim naked in the stream
on a glorious July day
with the sound of the waterfall like a chuckle
of water rushing over smooth rocks,
and there is nothing alien in the universe.
Ripe apples fall about them.
What else can they do but eat?
( Read more... )
"I've been fucked without a kiss," she says,
"and you can quote me on that,"
which sounds great in an English accent.
One year they broke up seven times and threatened to do it
another nine times.
( Read more... )
When a woman loves a man, she wants to stay awake.
She's like a child crying
at nightfall because she didn't want the day to end.
When a man loves a woman, he watches her sleep, thinking:
as midnight to the moon is sleep to the beloved.
A thousand fireflies wink at him.
The frogs sound like the string section
of the orchestra warming up.
The stars dangle down like earrings the shape of grapes.
I was going to give you a plus. Here's the plus.
I am bigger for every day I've lived. My life is full-- not 'it has things in it' but is full to the brim --of things that I love fiercely, that I want, that I am attached to, but that are not me. The world is my fingernail, the world is that callus on my toe that lets me walk on gravel but sheds slowly in a procession of different skin cells.
I wish I could draw pain out of others' worlds. I wish I could pump this sense of rightness out of my chest and into you like some sort of firehose parody of penis-in-vagina sex and leave you dripping with it. Instead all I can do is say, soon the tomatoes will be ripe! and, let me feed you chicken.
It's not helplessness to be a part of a solid world around a crumbling house.
Breathtaking
Aug. 22nd, 2005 10:04 pmSometimes I think I should just leave this window open all evening, and type in it continuously until it's time to sleep. Instead, I open lots of new ones and post a million different ones.
I had to this time, though. I clicked on that twenty questions meme and it asked me what Kynnin would be like in twenty years.
I can't answer that, but the question makes me shiver and realise, suddenly, that it is nighttime. My soul is stretching, it's coming loose from him. Look! I am almost free.
I had to this time, though. I clicked on that twenty questions meme and it asked me what Kynnin would be like in twenty years.
I can't answer that, but the question makes me shiver and realise, suddenly, that it is nighttime. My soul is stretching, it's coming loose from him. Look! I am almost free.