Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Fearless Journeys Into Foreign Lands

In my 20s, I loved the newsstand.
Neatly stacked out-of-town editions might have been
pillows for my future lovers, just arrived, or
stepping stones across a river, never the same one twice.

Daddy would have been proud, seeing my devotion
to the early street, the Sunday supplement and the sports final. 
All of my poems, then, were papier-mâché,
and I wrote them around the crumbs from French bread,
and between bottles of Milwaukee beer.

These days, I have become a homebody,
but when I press my face to your skin, 
I always smell newsprint along with shea butter and lavender.
Part of the pleasure in loving another woman is the feeling of being on home ground,
as easy as raiding your own kitchen in the dark.

Still, love is always a fearless journey into foreign lands.
Even though I practice a daily discipline of advice columns and horoscopes,
having learned the language of you the way a novitiate learns about faith;
and even though I find home in your hair, your eyes, your voice,
you will always be feathered with a thousand pages that I somehow missed.  

So, here goes:
down the hatch, take that turn, trust that guide.
I love you,
fearlessly,
and always in the manner of front page news.
______    
          

21 comments:

  1. I used to love cracking open the newspaper on Sunday morning. I worked for the local newspaper when I was in high school, bundling the copies to go out of town. We won't talk about the weed that got smoked in the back area during break...
    I later worked for the Denver Post for a while. No weed, but one time I hurt my back and was taking muscle relaxants--ended up going for a 10 minute nap in the car, woke to my supervisor pounding on the window. Fortunately he was a cool guy who realized that I wasn't trying to be a slacker.
    But yes, newspapers--there's something magic about them that the Interwebs can't quite capture.
    Thank you for your kind comment on my poem at poetryofthenetherworld.blogspot.com

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  2. I still indulge in news-papers.. (very dinosauric) a breakfast treat.. but my better half always take the news part, and I sit there enjoying the movie reviews.. (might be more poetry there though).. So I guess I love her like a movie review.. she has the front page news.

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  3. How to find beauty in news, newspapers and newspaper archives! And despite that brilliance, my favorite image is this: "Part of the pleasure in loving another woman is the feeling of being on home ground, / as easy as raiding your own kitchen in the dark."

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  4. WOW. This is gorgeous, rich, and warm as a caramel macchiatto.......I love the same lines Susan does.

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  5. "love is always a fearless journey into foreign lands"

    ... Allow me to quote that indefatigable poet, Shay Caroline, on the matter of love...

    Such an incredible poem!

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  6. I love this line:
    "you will always be feathered with a thousand pages that I somehow missed."

    Isn't that part of the joy of having someone to love? It is always an adventure (hopefully) and every moment together is something new.

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  7. Gorgeous! Two of my favorite topics: love and newspapers!

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  8. so YOU!




    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^= . <3 . >< } } (°>

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  9. Aaaaah, it's part of love the mystery of another?

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  10. simple, precise, truthy, fantastic. love love this, Shay. love.

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  11. aw, there's so much i love about this one. your devotion to the news stand, how you hit the streets, the love for another woman and how familiar. it's all just perfect. :)

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  12. This is really incredible work, Shay. There's something about the tone, the authenticity of the voice, that makes this one special.

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  13. "as easy as raiding your own kitchen in the dark" - that is a wonderful line.

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  14. This is where you began to unravel me with your words:

    "All of my poems, then, were papier-mâché,
    and I wrote them around the crumbs from French bread"

    The newsstand elements were nice---the cohesion device, the glue, the theme---but the love story was what spoke to me.

    "when I press my face to your skin,
    I always smell newsprint along with shea butter and lavender" Sheesh, that's sexy.

    "as easy as raiding your own kitchen in the dark" You couldn't be clearer in your comparison. This tells me exactly how it is, and I believe you. Fine writing. What a mind you have; my word.

    "Even though I practice a daily discipline of advice columns and horoscopes" I love this line, as well as the line that follows (but this one has my greatest devotion).

    Oh my, I am melting over this:
    "and even though I find home in your hair, your eyes, your voice,
    you will always be feathered with a thousand pages that I somehow missed" Your beloved is richly blessed to inspire such poetry.

    And then you went back to the glue in the ending, wrapping things up nicely. This is an impressive poem that deserves "front page" placement, whatever that might mean in your world. Insertion toward the front of a book, perhaps?

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  15. Oh, I loved this poem, especially the last verse. You tell your truth, kiddo and no one does it better than you.

    I also loved how you circled back to the newspapers. This was poetry story to me and was beautifully written.

    Say hi to Skittles for me:~)

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  16. the news is too depressing to subscribe to the paper, but i do miss it for spreading on the table when making crafts or wrapping dishes in when packing...

    "I love you,
    fearlessly,"

    isn't that the only path to true love?

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  17. The simplicity of some of these details makes this so sweet and down-to-earth.

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  18. "when I press my face to your skin,
    I always smell newsprint along with shea butter and lavender."

    I love how personal these lines feel. Just like love should feel...

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Spirit, what do you wish to tell us?