SLAM!

PANTOUM--Seduction

Small Talk

Here we are, as always, in a coffee shop,
smiling at each other over the steam.
I've missed you, you've dreamed of me.
We make an effort at small talk.

Smiling at each other over the steam,
we try, desperately, to be friends.
We make an effort at small talk
till you recall your tongue on my skin.

We try, desperately, to be friends
but I remember my lips against yours
and you recall your tongue on my skin
and we are lost! There is no help for us.

I remember my lips against yours
and cannot speak. You lean forward
and we are lost! There is no help for us,
though the waitress comes to fill our cups.

I cannot speak. You lean forward
and kiss me again, as on that first day.
Though the waitress comes to take our cups
we cannot leave each other.

Kiss me again, as on that first day.
Here we are, as always, in a coffee shop.
We cannot leave each other:
I miss you, you dream of me.

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FREE VERSE--Death personified

Day Lily

Teach me each day, lily,
how to look into your golden center,
see the tiny spear pointing straight at me
and the gentle black-edged impulses
to curl back from your inevitable truth.
Tomorrow morning I will find you
withered as a crone's finger, wrinkled
and wise, written all over with red veins
like lines on a tiny scroll or rivers on a rolled map.
Teach me how to get there as you do,
honest and open each morning,
your delicate flames licking the fence,
fragile and wizened overnight.
You are the momentary beauty--
you, the eternal peace.

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