Coral Poem by Derek Walcott

Coral

Rating: 2.7


This coral's hape ecohes the hand
It hollowed. Its

Immediate absence is heavy. As pumice,
As your breast in my cupped palm.

Sea-cold, its nipple rasps like sand,
Its pores, like yours, shone with salt sweat.

Bodies in absence displace their weight,
And your smooth body, like none other,

Creates an exact absence like this stoneSet on a table with a whitening rack

Of souvenirs. It dares my hand
To claim what lovers' hands have never known:

The nature of the body of another.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Susan Williams 25 November 2015

Isn't it amazing how words set together in a winsome manner can be so seductive?

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Derek Walcott

Derek Walcott

Castries / St Lucia
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