Undiscovered

Layers upon layers
Fine, whispy coats
Of sheer veneer
The shadow of your hand
Plays under several
Half way to my mask
Halfway to my heart
Each position in which I lay
Aches for someone to hold
The hopelessness of desire
Blends with an unrelieved
Taste of loss now on
My every breath
Tears preempt a cold
Consciousness
Preventing my escape
From loneliness

A great change
Has occurred here
I no longer have to convince
The manifested spirits
Who wander in and out
Of my waking days
Whispering in quick claim
Of the fear I have
In riding the electric storm
That may not produce
A sunrise
My song has been pulled
Under black waves
And I can’t breathe
Trapped forever beyond
What I want and need
And what I have been allowed

I would like to think
That the sun
Brings consolation
Even when I am found
Sitting in the rays
Arms wrapped my middle
Trying to hold the pain in
The blisters on my hand
Turn into staining wounds
I continue to ponder
All the theological questions
Of the why and the why
Each luminosity at twilight
Spreads only darkness
Into the coming sunset
I need for the anguish
To be captured in
Pewter common cups
Making the wafers
Easier to swallow

(can't sleep)

He awaits me

In corners and blind alleys

Full tilt neon boogie

In get back blues

I speak

His name loudly

Damn near scream his name

In a delta rhythm

Heel clicking on sidewalks

Broken glass sparks

Moist and hot

In a basin of water

His power over me

Strong and relentless

So I run faster, wider

My hips sway stactically

Pearls on the river

And blood in my veins

Ridiculously

Drawn towards his light

As if I didn’t know better

I confessed

To my preacher

I just knew

A longing like this

Had to be a sin

He only agreed

And wiped electric

Off his chin

In that tired knowing

Of one that has

Been full before

Has been sated

At the table

No blessing for me

Just a pat on the hand

Even he was afraid

Of a new embrace

That could start

Him to moving

Into the void, again

Still I speak

Him into being

Ordered and

Disordering my words

Staining my radiance

In a swirling mist

Allowing the water

To cover me

To fill the spaces

He left open

Cleansing vowels

My reflection

Breaking shadows

Into more shade

I’m ready

To cross over

Spitting the flavor

Onto the pavement

Rebukement

Of the taste

On the tip

Of my tongue

My flesh is weathered

And bears the mark

Of his days

Across my belly

Around my hip

I span the length

With fingers spread

Until prints

Coil together in

A nest of promises

Unfulfilled sacredness

Trembling at the edge

Of a passerby’s irises

Sightless again

And I just want

The scent of him

In my mouth

To quench this thirst

This knowing

This lightening

Scorching my breast

The dawn is near

Though I know

I won’t sleep again

Closing my door

On the life outside

And drinking tea

In a broken cup

I am ashamed

At susceptibility

Of words spoken

In whispers

Wrapped in linens

And perched on windowsills

Holding the pain

Behind my smiles

He comes to me

In lonely thoughts

But I know hear

For I no longer

Believe

In love

© NP 5/20/11

Chocolate...Crown Oddquain

Sweet
Brown ladies
On summery streets
Colorful sun dresses melt
Sight

Sight
Of your skin
Invites a cool tongue
To a slow licking of sweet
Skin

Skin
Peeking out
From your hidden places
Succulent curves on display
Shine

Shine
Into light
Desires of you
From milk to cocoa flavored
Taste

Taste
Colorful
Rainbow hued women
A black woman reigns over
All

Edens

Song of Solomon 4:16

“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.”

A wind bloweth gently

Stirring the hair

At the nape of my neck

Eyes closed I savor the scent

Of musk and spice and Africa

The loam of earth’s origin

Grown in fabled gardens

I await my beloved’s return

For reclamation

Prepared with anointments

Ruddy with ministrations

Fine gold braided in strands

At the secreted entrance

To a private sanctuary

Pomegranates lay heavy on boughs

Cinnamon studded with spikes

Of the finest saffron

Reddened apple bottomed fruits

And succulent peaches

The table set and feast prepared

Let my beloved come and have his fill

Awake fair winds

Bear him to his garden

Stir the petals gently

To release the spicy pungency

Of my ripened fruit

Grown from his careful tendings

Seeded for his palate only

The Art Forbidden

Song of Solomon

3:1-3

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

Why did you hide from me

I beseeched you ernestly

In city streets and

Lanes paved wide

Across heaven's horizons

I sought your face

My soul longed for you

Every watchman watched

But none could help me

Find you who I desired

Above the touch of strangers

That I will always shun

By night I dreamed

Of your sweet voice

Calling out to me

Calling me from evensong

In the quietest hour

Twixt now and then

Though in all faith

I prayed without ceasing

I fasted on my knees

I called you by name

But you answered not

Your essence still lingers

Around every memory

Those that keep count

Of us who are alone

Cannot erase the stain of tears

As there is no grace

Sufficient to make an art

Of being one forbidden love

Skin I'm In

Wrinkled and discolored

My skin is stretched to its limit

Of pain and scars

Permanent markers

Of the places you touched me

Gently and softly with tenderness

The bruises on my cheek, my calf

Extend the polar ends of

How my heart was stretched

Into pieces, little pieces

I live behind the kisses

And the promises

Uttered by lips

Disconnected from your heart

Words never meant to be fulfilled

But tasted good

On a practiced tongue

Skin that will not be lied to

Will not be bruised by another

I have no untouched places left

Unburned by your kind of love

This is the skin I’m in