-
Catch a Body, Ilse Bendorf (for 6/16)
Salinger, I’m sorry, but “Don’t ever tell
anybody anything” is a string of words
I would like to wrap up in canvas and sink
to the bottom of the Hudson, or extract
by laser from the ribcage of all of us
who ever believed it, who felt afraid
to miss someone, to be the last one
standing. “Tell everyone everything” is
not exactly right, but I do believe that if
your mother looks radiant in violet
you should tell her, or when a juvenile
sparrow thrashes its wings in dustpiles
and reminds you of a lover’s eyelashes,
you should say so. We are islands all of us,
but we are also boats, our secrets flares,
pyrotechnic devices by which we signal
there’s someone in here we’re still alive!
So maybe it’s, “don’t be afraid.” We can
rewrite Icarus, flame-resistant feathers,
wax that won’t melt, I mean it, I’ll draw up
a prototype right now, that burning ball
of orange won’t stop us, it’ll be everything
we dream the morning after, even if we fall
into the sea—we are boats, remember?
We are pirates. We move in nautical miles.
Each other’s anchors, each other’s buoys,
the rocket’s red, already the world entire. -
Fall in Tampa, Valzhyna Mort
it’s our blood that’s dried up
and crumbles through our fingers
like faded leaves
but there is no fall in here
and summer is standing stock-still
like a white heron in green waterI got a new poetry book, Between Water & Song: New Poets for the Twenty-First Century and this poem is in it and wow. Yes. This is Florida, so much.
-
salt, Lucielle Clifton (for 5/14)
he is salt
to her,
a strange sweet
a peculiar money
precious and valuable
only to her tribe,
and she is salt
to him,
something that rubs raw
that leaves a tearful taste
but what he will
strain the ocean for and
what he needs.I’m at work and just read this poems in my eternal search for quotes for our twitter and oh man. Oh man. I said “oof” aloud.
-
When I walked out the door they were sound asleep on the bed and I was ready for a drink. I wanted to leave him a note to explain it all. I wanted to tell him she was free and they were perfect together. I wanted to tell them both to find dinner and fall in love, but by the look on their faces I was pretty sure they would figure it out on their own."
Guy New York: You’re From Portland -
I could have sworn I loved you in 6th grade.
Fell to pieces when you switched schools.Found you again, and would reroute my walk to classes just to see you.
Heard of you through friends of friends.And right now you’re laying next to me 6 years later. It was worth it.
This actually felt like more of a punch in the stomach. You may know who this would be about for me
-
i will learn how to love a person and then i will teach you and then we will know, Tao Lin
seen from a great enough distance i cannot be seen
i feel this as an extremely distinct sensation
of feeling like shit; the effect of small children
is that they use declarative sentences and then look at your face
with an expression that says, ‘you will never do enough
for the people you love’; i can feel the universe expanding
and it feels like no one is trying hard enough
the effect of this is an extremely shitty sensation
of being the only person alive; i have been alone for a very long time
it will take an extreme person to make me feel less alone
the effect of being alone for a very long time
is that i have been thinking very hard and learning about existence, mortality
loneliness, people, society, and love; i am afraid
that i am not learning fast enough; i can feel the universe expanding
and it feels like no one has ever tried hard enough; when i cried in your room
it was the effect of an extremely distinct sensation that ‘i am the only person
alive,’ ‘i have not learned enough,’ and ‘i can feel the universe
expanding and making things further apart
and it feels like a declarative sentence
whose message is that we must try harder’ -
Poof
Every night before I sleep, I reach out because some part of me believes that you’ll magically appear by my side. You always did like mystical things like that. Your feelings were also good at vanishing acts.
-
The Man, Lisa C. Taylor
I like the parts of you
that are not the parts of me,
the furry paws of your knees
and the angular metal of your upper arm.
So often I turn to touch softness
and find taut rope and hard glass.My body stretches elastic
to meet and hold forum
with the hollow of your back.
I crawl under your thrown face
and find moist refuge.In such moments
I forget your bones and fingernails.
I surrender to the mud that moves with us,
sinking and rising
in the steam that is our common element. -
(via herekitty)
-
Body of Loneliness, Leonard Cohen
She entered my foot with her foot
and she entered my waist with her snow.
She entered my heart saying,
“Yes, that’s right.”
And so the Body of Loneliness
was covered from without,
and from within
the Body of Loneliness was embraced.
Now every time I try to draw a breath
she whispers to my breathlessness,
“Yes, my love, that’s right, that’s right.”
love notes
these are things that I could not tell you;
things that remind me of you when I want nothing more than to forget;
things that have gone wrong;
things that have gone right;
things that will never happen;
things that are your fault,
my fault,
the faults of no one;
these are things that we did not do and will not let go of
elsewhere:
just one place | love notes | twitter | flickr | email | etsy | ask | aim
