Hard shelled,
Smoothed by many currents, many tides,
Buffing it with all that sand
As waves cycle through,
...
I am building a skeleton within,
My first accomplishment of adulthood.
All other projects and five-year plans have failed.
And seeing others soaring on careers
...
Just before the dark moon,
A slender sliver of light -
Like a piece of onion skin -
Rises into the sky near sunrise.
...
I had never had a breath stir the hair along the nape of my neck until a man called the woman out of me, knowing I was untouched, untried, but yearning to feel one breathless moment in someone's arms. I did not know the lips of a man much less the thighs,
when I was first asked to bed.
And after a day's and night's deliberation, accepted. That was me: nothing on a whim back then. Everything thought through. I had for months been resorting morals to clear the way for love's approach. But no one came. All my college friends saw me as I saw myself: completely unbeautiful, completely lost in logic's cold embrace.
...
Last summer I had opened the windows over the bed
To let in the night's breeze;
But air too still drugged me to deep sleep,
Smothering me under its dead-weight heat.
...
We are the lithograph of God's Image -
Each a numbered edition
From the stone cut.
Some copies turn out faint,
...
From the very first time
We wrapped ourselves
In a chrysalis
Of love and silk sheets,
...
I am hunting my wayward heart.
I can feel that steady drum beat,
Following the ruby river
With fingertips like bloodhounds,
...
The last of summer gardening ends.
Hoe and trowel, knee pad and sunbonnet
Hang in the shed with the shears.
The final petals of the rose have fallen,
...
The distance between you and me
As we swim in the lake
Is only our breath.
The distance between you and the sun
...
On a long day of lovemaking,
You fed me orange sections
In a morning break.
They were commas between
...
I drive home from night shift
In late summer's heat
Into daybreak like crystal
Shattering in my eyes.
...
Grave-shift workers reach Zen-like focus
That sometimes amplifies noises -
...
Growing up in Lubbock,
Child of dust storms,
There were years when all of my memories
Were shaped by wind:
...
Straining up the rise with heavy books
I grumble. But at the top gold sifting
Through the fleeting fog shifts the shadows
On distant hills, and I almost follow the road
...
Dreams and dreams come back to me
when I awaken with their threads
like cobwebs feathering past my face.
The visions of lost cities fade quickly,
...
Beauty Of Imperfection
Hard shelled,
Smoothed by many currents, many tides,
Buffing it with all that sand
As waves cycle through,
A cool fleshy lump of life
Lifts a finger
To get the weather report
On the motion of the seas;
Lifts a hand to grab morsels
From the smorgasbord passing by.
And deep within the briny, sweet pulp
A tiny blemish enters,
Creating a dimple
In its silken, delicate skin.
And that seed of sand -
Like the pea under the princess's mattress -
The oyster worries,
Turning and turning it,
Bathing it in tears,
Coating it with slime,
Layer upon layer of pain and angst,
Rubbing it like worry beads
Until it is polished to a fine luster,
And now this irritant emerges: a pearl.
In a lifetime ofimperfections
Can we make even a single pearl?
One of the finest poets I have had the pleasure of discovering on PoemHunter.
Lillian, I must admit I was impressed by your work. You have a wonderful way of drawing the reader in. Very nice.
Reminds me of Wordsworth's Upon Westminster Bridge.... really touching description