The drunken world leans in, then away,
like a dancer on break who confides a confidence,
then tips back laughing as if to say it was nothing,
just a gray cat switching its tail atop a fence.
Every season must first pass through my windows--
so I like to think.
Come in, sit in the slant on the boards of the hallway
and we'll drink
as if we were pretty as petals on a rose.
I have given up, that's the truth,
and it's such a damned sweet relief to just let everything slide.
The drunken world sways, rights itself, then moves
with us on it, choiceless, birds perched upon a train at night.
I love you. One day I won't, and it breaks my heart.
We're not new at this,
and what can be broken already is.
Please let yourself, this once, just be in my arms;
think of nothing beyond this moment's kiss
so it won't be so bad when we joke it off, let go of the barre, and part.
_______
For my own "Touch of Gray" challenge at Real Toads.
Ok, just for this poem, I want to be your girlfriend. I want to be pretty as a rose petal. I want to be held in your arms and kissed. Is that too much to ask? This just kicked my ass, in a nice way. La la Mosky
ReplyDeleteI have known the feeling of just letting everything slide. It feels like freedom at the time but there's always a price to pay. Love is like fine china but don't drop it.
ReplyDeleteThere's a frankness to this that is amazing. The pleading to the lover is a plea to the self as well, just let things happen, and maybe the pleasure of the moment will be worth the crash at the end.
ReplyDeletesoul-touching. heart-breaking. makes me cry.
ReplyDeletelike a dancer on break who confides a confidence,
then tips back laughing as if to say it was nothing - just brilliant.
Ah, the liquor that this pours is so sweet and so strong one almost doesn't taste the way the drunken world sours it all on the tongue as it carelessly rolls off, the way its memory is sweeter than the drink itself ever was or even could be...But after all, that's what memory is for...beautiful beautiful poem Shay, vulnerable, and yet still somewhere, quite fierce.
ReplyDeleteSyllable perfect and breaking of heart! Carved on me like marble. I find such excellence in your poetry that I despair to do it justice in my praise. And tomorrow you will get up and go to work for another day. Life still blows my mind - but i just don't get lines like this dancing together out of it!
ReplyDeleteOh, ow, "I love you. One day I wont and it breaks my heart." I so know the feeling of giving up. There is some relief after all the pain of wanting...........no one writes love realer or better than you do.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have witnessed this type of day. Where the day rises and I'm holding love in my arms knowing that one day it may no longer be there. But for this moment I cherish the embrace and the gentle kiss. ..lovely, gracias !
ReplyDeleteThis one is beautiful and bittersweet. I especially love the final line. Well done!
ReplyDeletePat
Critter Alley
I love how this takes me from contemplation of our unbalanced world revolving through times and space and then focuses attention on the world we create in the space between ourselves and another, and how that too is regulated by time.
ReplyDeleteThought-provoking and beautiful.
This realization:
ReplyDeleteI love you. One day I won't, and it breaks my heart.
We're not new at this,
Heartbreaking in that gradual way we have been through one time too many...
"I have given up, that's the truth,
ReplyDeleteand it's such a damned sweet relief to just let everything slide.
That is so exquisitely honest, so real. I feel this.
A world weary poem and yet with wonderful freshness. Great image of the dancer taking the break, and multiple meanings iwth the barre. Thanks. k.
ReplyDeleteWhen the world hands you burp, make grey-o-lade. Its not quicker than liquor but it's real singing.
ReplyDeleteThat title/opening combo is such a cool LSD trip kiss-and-wobble viewpoint. I love it. What you did with the dancer is sheer genius. How fascinating it would be to crawl in through your ear and shimmy up inside your brain for even just a weekend camp-out.
ReplyDeleteYou are a sly little thing, substituting "switching" for "swishing," which totally changes the meaning ... making "tail" a sexual word, but also suggesting me that the "cat/dancer" goes both ways, so to speak.
"Every season must first pass through my windows--
so I like to think." ... So clever, how you stuck in two meanings here. It means that you like to think that everything has to pass through you for inspection and permission to carry on (you goddess, you). But it also means that it definitely does, and because of this, you like to spend a lot of time thinking. You're a sort of Solomon.
This is what you say to those who come to you
for advice:
"Come in, sit in the slant on the boards of the hallway
and we'll drink
as if we were pretty as petals on a rose."
"I have given up, that's the truth" ... Tee hee. (Sorry. You know how I read this, with my twisted mind.) ... And then you go and top it off with this deliciousness: "and it's such a damned sweet relief to just let everything slide" (But yes, I know what you actually meant, and it's beautiful. I just also like the alternate interpretation.)
This is my favorite: "what can be broken already is.
Please let yourself, this once, just be in my arms" ... There are so many relationships that just aren't going to make it in the end. And maybe they aren't going to be at all. But why deny that passionate kiss (plus ...)? I mean really, that's what we're living for. That rush. That connection. That passion and hunger and out-of-control ravaging, even if we know that in the end, it isn't going to give us that forever we think has to be the end result. If we let go of that hope, though, maybe we can really enjoy our relationships more ... however lengthy or brief they turn out to be.
_____
I took dance and gymnastics for years. I don't think I was in the right class. ;)
_____
I see a touch of "The Drink-In World" as perhaps a secondary, psychologically suggestive title ... meaning that regardless of how we perceive things, we should continually "drink in" the world because our time here is so limited.
I have given up, that's the truth,
ReplyDeleteand it's such a damned sweet relief
to just let everything slide
There comes a time when feelings of love take over. One just flows with the slide without much resistance to end up in each other's arms very naturally.
Hank
I am so touched, and torn by this:
ReplyDelete"Every season must first pass through my windows"