Old Age, Alone: A Love Poem
If I must live a long time
without you, I will grieve
but I will not mourn.
If no one of blood or brain
stops by to touch my face
or roll me into sunlight,
if no one is left to speak
to me as if I still exist
or nod at my babbling,
I will start the tape at August,
a hot afternoon, when your breath
questioned mine and our lust-
driven, love-drenched epic began.
I will dawdle over every frame,
mouth every syllable, until
the reel whips to its end. I will
sob and shake my head like a forlorn
beast; I may even call out your name.
And if I'm touched and rolled and
spoken to and heard, I'll wait
until they've gone to press my heart
and start my tape, again.
Comstock Review, 1997
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Forever & Forever & Forever
"This is forever - we are in it now" - A. R. Ammons
What are you looking for, Beloved,
what do you seek?
Why ask me such questions, Beloved?
You are not as meek
and wide-eyed as you pretend to yourself
to be, a Byronic Don Juan,
sultry newborn, happy hostage
to your own innocent charm;
You know as well as I, your make-believe
Venus, that all my tricks
of seduction, my blinding beauty
are out of Kabala books.
And what does Kabala say, Beloved
what do the books say?
That forever is a pretty thought, Beloved
a thought we create
in our own image of unending love
and pleasure for as long
as we want to stay in this place, drawing
each other's breath, as long
as we want to promise, as long as we see
ourselves in each other's eyes,
in each other's sighs;
this is Forever, Beloved, it is now.
JerseyWorks.com – Summer/2008
