Peanut Butter Poem by Eileen Myles

Peanut Butter

Rating: 4.6


I am always hungry
& wanting to have
sex. This is a fact.
If you get right
down to it the new
unprocessed peanut
butter is no damn
good & you should
buy it in a jar as
always in the
largest supermarket
you know. And
I am an enemy
of change, as
you know. All
the things I
embrace as new
are in
fact old things,
re-released: swimming,
the sensation of
being dirty in
body and mind
summer as a
time to do
nothing and make
no money. Prayer
as a last re-
sort. Pleasure
as a means,
and then a
means again
with no ends
in sight. I am
absolutely in opposition
to all kinds of
goals. I have
no desire to know
where this, anything
is getting me.
When the water
boils I get
a cup of tea.
Accidentally I
read all the
works of Proust.
It was summer
I was there
so was he. I
write because
I would like
to be used for
years after
my death. Not
only my body
will be compost
but the thoughts
I left during
my life. During
my life I was
a woman with
hazel eyes. Out
the window
is a crooked
silo. Parts
of your
body I think
of as stripes
which I have
learned to
love along. We
swim naked
in ponds &
I write be-
hind your
back. My thoughts
about you are
not exactly
forbidden, but
exalted because
they are useless,
not intended
to get you
because I have
you & you love
me. It's more
like a playground
where I play
with my reflection
of you until
you come back
and into the
real you I
get to sink
my teeth. With
you I know how
to relax. &
so I work
behind your
back. Which
is lovely.
Nature
is out of control
you tell me &
that's what's so
good about
it. I'm immoderately
in love with you,
knocked out by
all your new
white hair

why shouldn't
something
I have always
known be the
very best there
is. I love
you from my
childhood,
starting back
there when
one day was
just like the
rest, random
growth and
breezes, constant
love, a sand-
wich in the
middle of
day,
a tiny step
in the vastly
conventional
path of
the Sun. I
squint. I
wink. I
take the
ride.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM

Nice poem. Fantastic way of telling the truth, forthright. Enjoyed reading.

0 0 Reply
Jose Gonzalez 16 April 2022

I love the line i write so i can be used years after ny death. That was beautiful

0 0 Reply
George Colburn 21 November 2017

Love it, love it, love it. Whimsy with an attitude Thank you.

0 0 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 04 May 2016

just sent u a comment nd gave u a big 10. would u read any of my poem “if you die before me” and comment and vote.

1 0 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 04 May 2016

life, thoughts, visions, attitudes, a rebels thinking, taking life in the hand and moving forward without thinking what others should be thinking about me.......... this poem was very thought provoking..... i read it many times. thank you dear poetess.

1 0 Reply
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Eileen Myles

Eileen Myles

Cambridge / Massachusetts
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