Seaside Improvisation - Richard Siken (& request)

[diskarte.livejournal.com]

Seaside Improvisation Richard Siken

I take off my hands and I give them to you but you don't
want them, so I take them back
and put them on the wrong way, the wrong wrists. The yard is dark,
the tomatoes are next to the whitewashed wall,
the book on the table is about Spain,
the windows are painted shut.
Tonight you're thinking of cities under crowns
of snow and I stare at you like I'm looking through a window,
counting birds.
You wanted happiness, I can't blame you for that,
and maybe a mouth sounds idiotic when it blathers on about joy
but tell me
you love this, tell me you're not miserable.
You do the math, you expect the trouble.
The seaside town. The electric fence.
Draw a circle with a piece of chalk. Imagine standing in a constant cone
of light. Imagine surrender. Imagine being useless.
A stone on the path means the tea's not ready,
a stone in the hand means somebody's angry, the stone inside you still
hasn't hit bottom.



-

poems about tattoos? :)

Comments

[madguru.livejournal.com]

Love this thanks for sharing

[zanylikethat.livejournal.com]

First Poem for You

by Kim Addonizio


I like to touch your tattoos in complete
darkness, when I can’t see them. I’m sure of
where they are, know by heart the neat
lines of lightning pulsing just above
your nipple, can find, as if by instinct, the blue
swirls of water on your shoulder where a serpent
twists, facing a dragon. When I pull you

to me, taking you until we’re spent
and quiet on the sheets, I love to kiss
the pictures in your skin. They’ll last until
you’re seared to ashes; whatever persists
or turns to pain between us, they will still
be there. Such permanence is terrifying.
So I touch them in the dark; but touch them, trying.

[alphien.livejournal.com]

Wow. Fantastic piece! Thanks for sharing.

[orange-fell.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this.

[teithiwr.livejournal.com]

Richard Siken is so good.

[edellin.livejournal.com]

So beautiful...

[exceptindreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you.