Romance

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Bloom and Wilt

Enfold in me

your light, your life–

sweet summer child

turn not your color from my heart,

the scent of pine trees,

sculpted in the dawning,

where all of nature is the swell at your sweet breast,

the gathered breaths cultivating

convalesced coercion of my soul.

Breath to breath, I seek your notes,

the tantalized texture of your smile

writhes still in me, in places

only faith should know.

You drink me, though you do not know

the taste of my desire–

the character in the caricature–

myself, I, wilting in that shade,

in those dark places where your lips and light

shall never know, nor ever sing.

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No Kiss

It is not the beard you crave

But the lips behind it,

The kiss

It shook empires

In its youth, bitter thing

Rendered golden in that

Midas way where

Men breathe

Never seeing a

Kiss is never just a kiss

It knows not the contours

Flesh bone and blood

The Sin

One weary heart

Coaxes from quivering walls.

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Patient Spring

Lovers dangle barefoot

brevity against the water’s kiss,

the ripples like wishes

in bottles, SOS and MIA

where snow dawns in itinerant icebergs

lain bare and broken on the shore.

His hands in her hair,

the wind knows not the blooming

of petals-in-flight

–it is a patient spring.

It’s a special One Shot, my friends and fellow poets.

Yesterday, One Stop Poetry won the Shorty Awards prize – Twitter’s equivalent of the Oscars – for art. It is an honor all of you helped us achieve, and one that legitimizes all we have done, and all we hope to do in the future. Be sure to send your warm regards and your congratulations to my fellow One Stop team members: Adam Dustus, Leslie Moon, Brian Miller, Pete Marshall, Claudia Schönfeld, Gay Cannon and Jessica Kristie, for all they have done. They’ll appreciate it, I assure you!

Art is important to all of us, and we hope to aid our fellow artists in the pursuit of their love. This is just another stepping stone in the realization of that dream. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for One Stop!

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Lovely Quotes of the Week

Welcome, one and all, to that heart-shaped dose of holiday action the world seems to have taken to calling “St. Valentine’s Day.” In honor of that special little holiday, for lovers and romantics and couples and (insert rant about corporate interests here) that sponsor them, I leave you this week with a handful of quotes that cover the more romantic side of life. Enjoy!

“Love is life. All, everything I understand, I understand only because I love.”
~Leo Tolstoy

“At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.”
~Plato

“Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.”
~John Donne

“We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.”
~John Lennon

And one, (excuse the more melancholy portion of this segment) I think sums up well enough my own place among this holiday, though I say that still wishing all of you that do have that special someone well, and a wonderful day:

“I don’t wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone.”
~Javan (Steven Javan Jones)

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Sunset Lovers

 

Image care of and copyright by Katherine Forbes.

Careful touch.

The shade takes more than hands,

its kiss—milky, fleeting

takes me to you and I am all around you,

liquid heart-spill across the peeling

paint, swirls through our darkness

and I am wondering—

is this right?

Too fleeting is the pool,

this monument of love, swirling—

it is engrained deepest in foundations,

breaks brittle at the bleating

passage of the owls,

when the sun doffs and says goodnight;

Then you and I,

and no shadows,

no sky.

We are Sunset Lovers,

we sing no sweeter

than the end.

* This piece was inspired by the above photograph – this week’s photo prompt over at One Stop Poetry for another wonderful One Shoot Sunday. The photographer is the talented Katherine Forbes, a portraiture photographer with some lovely shots, especially with children. Some great insights into the art, as well, so if you’re interested in the woman, or in taking up the photo challenge, check out my interview with her today.

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I am become Wolf

Image care of Photobucket; I hold no rights to it.

I fell in Burgundy,

the color of her Convictions

tasted of Hopes and vaunted little riding hood–

allures that Gripped,

teased me past the bounds of Reason,

tempted to the sweetest Treason,

Body’s Elation

is my Soul’s Damnation,

gripped as we are in Sensory Salvation–

in D Minor–

rings Red the stacatto of our Destruction,

as Beings, set among the fog and sand–

we are Drifting.

I am become the Wolf, less man,

together craft the scarlet trails of Unmaking–

you Sing for me,

but these Hands are not my hands,

they Touch you, and I do not Know my name.

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This Plane’s Going Down…

Little bird let fly

Don’t you dare lie

Beside me in the grave,

I dug this cave

For me and not no other,

Smothered myself and fled my brothers;

Enslaved, if you will,

I know it’s no Seville,

But it’s my soul at the reckon,

And that wreckin’s beckoned,

And try as I might,

I’m dying of fright

Of life and of you,

Engrained on me as a stinging tattoo.

Won’t do us no good to wonder,

Tip our heads to call the thunder;

I’m already killin’ myself slowly,

Me, wholly unholy

And I’ll not see you follow me whereby

Your own bitter end supply.

* My latest contribution to the wonderful One Shot Poetry Wednesdays! Once you’ve had a look, check out some of the other One Shot Poets as well–they’re a skilled bunch of poets, with a strong and supportive community.  Enjoy!