Guest poem sent in by arvind natarajan
(Poem #1322) Climbing You I want to understand the steep thing that climbs ladders in your throat. I can't make sense of you. Everywhere I look you're there-- a vast landmark, a volcano poking its head through the clouds, Gulliver sprawled across Lilliput. I climb into your eyes, looking. The pupils are black painted stage flats. They can be pulled down like window shades. I switch on a light in your iris. Your brain ticks like a bomb. In your offhand, mocking way you've invited me into your chest. Inside: the blur that poses as your heart. I'm supposed to go in with a torch or maybe hot water bottles & defrost it by hand as one defrosts an old refrigerator. It will shudder & sigh (the icebox to the insomniac). Oh there's nothing like love between us. You're the mountain, I am climbing you. If I fall, you won't be all to blame, but you'll wait years maybe for the next doomed expedition |
Searching for poems by Erica on the net, landed up reading this lovely poem. Liked the following lines in particular: The pupils are black painted stage flats. They can be pulled down like window shades. I switch on a light in your iris. arvind [Martin adds] Intriguing poem - I loved the imagery, particularly in the brilliant last verse. It reminded me a bit of Atwood's [Poem #1093] I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed & that necessary. - there's the same sense of 'selfless' attachment, and the wryly humorous tone promising more, perhaps, than the other is willing to receive. martin Biography: Born March 26, 1942, New York to Seymour Mann a musician, and Eda Mirsky, a painter. Interesting to note that her first publication party, in 1971, was held in a fruit and vegetable market. She read selections from her poetry book "Fruits & Vegetables" perched on a crate of grapefruits and oranges! More on her website www.ericajong.com
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