5 posts tagged “love”
Tenth Anniversary
We chose to spend ours as a long weekend
helping your parents by repairing their back deck,
your mother bringing us cold lemonade and cookies,
while together we measured out the treated planks, and
you handed me any tools I asked for; and all went fine
until you stepped on that one errant nail and it went right
through the sole of your sandal and deep into the ball of your big
toe - I can still see your face tightening in pain, though you
didn't cry out, you only hissed between your perfect white
teeth and then whispered a cuss; we stopped work
and rushed you to the ER, where a doctor lovingly
examined your foot, and removed the nail; he then
began to clean and disinfect the wound before stitching
it up; and all I could think of, as I sat there beside you, was
how much I now loved that doctor's hands, because
they had so cared for your foot; and how I also loved
the cotton balls, and gauze and peroxide, that cleansed
your pink flesh; I even loved the stitches, the delicate
lines they made as they sealed your vulnerable
inner parts away from the dirty fingers of the world,
and how they were now a part of you, they were
more of you to love; even the drops of your blood,
as they dripped through your fingers on the car ride
there, each reflecting your face in the daylight, the thrill
of knowing how your body would come alive to replace
it all, creating more of you to fill the wellspring of
our marriage.
(... I may regret posting this, as one of the themes the
Aussies are comissioning me to write poems about is
anniversaries, and they are to have exclusive online rights
to my work for them... but I had to keep this one for
myself, it gave me one of those moments as I
was writing it, one of those moments of "Ah"...
plus, maybe it's a bit too gruesome for their
tastes... but can't love be expressed even through a
gruesome moment?... I think it can... and for the
record, this came to me sitting in the kitchen eating
a piece of pizza and wondering how the hell am I
ever going to write an anniversary poem... I got one
answer, at least...a marriage, and an anniversary,
is made of moments... events... and the feelings they
invoke, or don't invoke... see, I just needed a key...)
Eridrae
The hot afternoon
sun -
and under
the robe, her knees
moving like camels.
Isle of Us
You and I
in our animal skins
with our hairy feet
and faces, careful
as we walk
over sharp rocks,
spear and flint
in my hands, food
and fire in yours,
how small a drop
of love we've created
to be ground
against the separating
continents,
the icy skies and
dying animals;
our eyes skipping
over new strange
creatures that run
from our approach,
meeting flat
thin-lipped faces
with eyes much more
intelligent than our own,
and feebly recalling
where we were born,
what we've tasted,
who we've killed,
reaching the edge
of our epoch
and bursting to ash
that will never last
the rains, never lose
the sun, only be
found again someday
when our bodies
are discovered and
our teeth are counted,
we both grain eaters
and nomads long lost,
the drop of love
we created left to
slip out of our
empty eye sockets
held up gently
to the sun.
(... the title is a little homage to
a series of books by Piers Anthony, the first
being called Isle of Man, about a love
story told through the eras of life on
the earth... )
I Was 5, Her Name Was Cindy
Love levels
the playing field,
and makes this
sandbox
seem as vast
and hopeless
as the desert;
you,
all the way over there,
galloping your yellow pony
across a dune,
and I,
thirsty and alone here,
loading sand
into my truck
tho' I have
no idea
where
to take it.
Well, with Valentine's Day next week, I thought I'd memorize a few love poems over the new few Wednesdays... and amazingly, yes, there are poems about love out there... some poets have actually written about it, yes, I'm as surprised as you are... but sarcasm aside, this week I've chosen a favorite by one of my favorite poets...
love is more thicker than forget by e e cummings
love is more thicker than forget
more thinner than recall
more seldom than a wave is wet
more frequent than to fail
it is most mad and moonly
and less it shall unbe
than all the sea which only
is deeper than the sea
love is less always than to win
less never than alive
less bigger than the least begin
less littler than forgive
it is most sane and sunly
and more it cannot die
than all the sky which only
is higher than the sky
... this to me is such a brilliant poem... simple ideas written in a complex way... and all the contrasts between "more" and "less", and the wonderful contrasts of "mad and moonly" and "sane and sunly" - I love how it touches on the concept of lunacy and the moon affecting our actions... it's a poem that needs a few readings and some study to glean it all... that's what I love about cummings work, it rewards the time you put into it.
