ext_65709 ([identity profile] ann-septimus.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] greatpoetry2007-07-05 09:50 am
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You're All Over the Floor - Joseph Kerschbaum

someone else posted some Kerschbaum yesterday; I was intrigued and so I found more of his stuff. This charmed me.

You're All Over the Floor

Every corner of this house
has the deposits you’ve left
behind. You are woven into my couch. You clog
the drain in my bathroom sink.
Flakes of your skin and hair
wander around in the stale sunlight
like lost tourists. I inhale your exhaust.
The dust I’m leaving behind
will intertwine with your dust.
Our bodies will dance without us being in the room.
When the dancing settles down we will hide in corners,
under tables, like children hiding from
strangers. Eventually, we will be
discovered. We will be swept up and forgotten –
then we will be one
like we always should have been.

~Joseph Kerschbaum

[identity profile] epiclevelregina.livejournal.com 2007-07-05 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
That was lovely.

[identity profile] tom-sizemore.livejournal.com 2007-07-05 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey, I know that guy! (It's this guy: [livejournal.com profile] jkerschb.)

[identity profile] aria-muse.livejournal.com 2007-07-05 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
this is really good

thanks

[identity profile] jkerschb.livejournal.com 2007-07-05 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you for the warm comments. Thanks tom_sizemore for tipping me off to the post.
Softly...
JFK

Re: thanks

[identity profile] jkerschb.livejournal.com 2007-07-05 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Actually, I don't have much time to post. My private jet is all fueled up and ready to go. However, we just drive the jet where ever we're going because it's made of gold and it's too heavy to fly. Toll booths are a bother. :)
aria_muse... Like, I just totally friended you.
Thanks!

[identity profile] fuzzilla.livejournal.com 2007-07-05 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)
This really is lovely. Perfect timing for me to stumble on it, too.

[identity profile] mercywaits.livejournal.com 2007-07-05 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
i've tried to write this poem so many times. great language, nice ending, somehow avoids the trap of being trite.

[identity profile] unearthingbone.livejournal.com 2007-07-07 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
The ending, and really the whole poem, is so creepy. I dig it. Without that desperate undertone, it would be trite, so I like that it's not just another longing/loss poem.