Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Carnal Discourse

Carnal Discourse

…when touch seems casual and only discourse intimate…

- John Hollander


you want me to write about our love

talk on the structure of touches

how they release uncontrolled emotion

that conquers the precision of our limbs

you wish I’d account for some details

the oceanic movement of our bodies

how our legs and arms wrestle for a grip

when we finally make time but


I hope you don't write about our sex life


when the whorls on your fingertips find the

arches leading to dark spots on my body

your kiss sits like salsa on my parted lips

I travel like the viscous droplets

that form and ease right down your spine

pausing like the weight of wine

a full-bodied finish in your mouth


but this isn’t the height of our intimacy

we are the odor of flint striking steel

destructive alone as fire and fire

embers burning into the morning


I ask if we can agree on anything

though I’m not sure I’d have it differently


By: Chelsia A. Rice

The Broken Word Volume Two

Church of Poetry 2007