Motivation Unknown
I have no idea why I’m doing this, really, but inexplicably I have felt moved recently to post a poem here. Erobintica just posted on her blog that she finished a chapbook on which she had been working hard (congratulations!), and I was reminded of a little chapbook I put together a few years ago just for myself. There was a particular collection of poems I had that seemed to want to be together. I only created one copy (again, it was just for me), and it still sits on my desk. The chapbook’s title is “Delicacy Masquerading as Invincibility: Poems of a broken heart.” It contains 11 poems that were written from about 2002 to 2004. None of them is erotic (I’ve never written erotic poetry), but again, while I have no idea what is moving me to do so, I share one of them here now.
Love,At midnight
we walked through this parking lotso many times.
Motionless in their clusters, the peonies
splashed invisible through the air
dictating all we inhaledand everything that told me not to be with you
when you weren’t there
was taken by the darknessevery time.
Until one week ago when
the starlight finally told me
I can’t keep doing this to myself
just because I love you.Today, it’s my birthday
and I guess this is it for us.I stand here now alone
watching the stars clear and certain above me,
and I know (whether you see it or not)
I may not have been your only one
but I will always be unique among the resteven as the smell of peonies
makes me want to stop breathing.
Emerald
“I’m in the moment, the one where nothing matters and everything’s all right…”
-Sister Hazel “In the Moment”
Craig Sorensen
Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 4:37 am
Very strong sense of space and time. Powerful imagery supporting the conflict, and the pain.
Emerald
Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 5:15 am
Thank you so much, Craig.
Erobintica
Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Well, whatever motivated you to post this - I’m glad you did. It’s lovely. I’m also glad you put together that chapbook - some poems do want to be together, and are more meaningful than just left alone on separate pieces of paper. I’d love to see more of your poetry.
Have you ever wondered why you haven’t written any erotic poetry?
Donna George Storey
Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Yes, I am so glad you were inspired to share, Emerald. That lovely poem took me out of myself for a long moment, just as it touched on many familiar emotions. I just loved this line: “the peonies
splashed invisible through the air
dictating all we inhaled.”
I love the idea of a chapbook with just one precious copy close at hand.
Erobintica
Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Last year, for our 27th anniversary, I put together (not using any publishing software so it was a real labor of love) a chapbook for my husband of most of the erotic poems (and some others) that I’d written over the years. Now that I’ve done this one, I think I want to redo that one - if he says it’s okay.
I’m actually thinking of doing a bunch of themed chapbooks of my poems, just for me, so I have them close at hand to read (rather than having to scroll through hundreds of titles and go what the hell is that one? ;-)
Emerald
Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 1:08 am
Hi you guys! Thank you both so much, Robin and Donna, for reading and for commenting. I feel very flattered by what you said.
Robin, I have wondered that…it seems to me that (as I seem to recall mentioning on Craig’s blog once) I have historically not felt very “confident” about poetry — almost like I just didn’t have a “handle” on it or something and that it felt intimidating enough to just let things flow. To combine it with eroticism, which to me has felt a little more “active,” if you will, felt like taking a step forward on ground I wasn’t sure I felt was solid to begin with. I’m not sure if that makes sense…basically I guess what I mean is that perhaps I haven’t written erotic poetry because I haven’t felt I have known how to. ;)
Thank you both again!!
Erobintica
Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 3:35 am
I bet if you let yourself, you could. Try it, you might like it. ;-)
I’m up early because I have to drive my husband to the airport - he’s going to be gone for 10 days. :-((((