neatly folded and compressed,
housed lovingly
among other intimates in the soft
darkness of your top drawer, wrapped
in the essence of a woman, a scent
never strong enough to shade
the humid breath
of your body.
like the Greeks you believe
in the thing and its essence.
this is why you squeeze, lift,
and flatten that which has exceeded
its purpose, you agree
to be lavender, lace
and love.
but what if you undressed
and actually got down to it - this
devious thing, the tortured skin, angry
bones and excess flesh. what if
you told the story without props, placed
his hands along the twisting plot and told him
what it means to ache.
you are old enough to know
that men will eat apples and snakes
will be snakes. you are old enough to give up
on hiding, to step
onto the dusty road, the heat
of their gaze on the scars
of your skin, wise
and unafraid.
3 comments:
i particularly like the last and second-last stanza.
i wasn't too sure about the second stanza, except for "you agree to be lavender, lace/ and love".
been missing my DH poems! more please!
Great poem.
I'm not sure about the second stanza though either. I would take out "like the Greeks" and end the stanza at "has exceeded/ its purpose." Lavendar and lace seems somehow cliche.
thanks for the feedback. i'm trying to get at the idea of essentialism in the second stanza (thus the Greeks who came up with the whole 'thing and its essence' idea), how the world of lingerie helps women 'fit' into this idea of the body. also same idea in the garden with adam and eve.
so i actaully want the second stanza to end with a cliche there. the idea being that no one can actually be those things.
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