first kiss
yes i remember the place
and the taste of your throat
down the tracks through a hole in the fence
in the warehouse though an empty window frame
a mass-grave of books
sloughing towards the rafters
half rotted in the leaking rain
with the occasional treasure:
black-letter geometry — 1696,
latin novella — 1705.
forgotten books, their flaking secrets
now my charge and purpose
aluminum cigar tubes, polished black stones inside: inexplicable
a rodent flattened by some vanished weight, matted to paper and bones
bucket of pellets in a room with chains and hooks: cyanide
and everywhere the sunlight streaming from high windows
cars passing outside
pigeons in the rafters
the fear of getting caught
this place was planted
beyond the borders of control –
a forgotten corner of an institution
where we crawled in our time
now long torn down
in a storage room with half a chair
we dropped our bags and learned
the gentle lessons
of lips and breath
and saying nothing
amid the book-rot
and debris
now i punch my fist through the window
now i rescue this tragedy
i will pull a railroad spike from its hole
when there is nothing left to say
when words have crumbled into dust
and pin this memory to the world
in a spray of rust and rot and sun
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:01 am
You might expect warmth, other images oblivious: A smile in my heart as lips caress forehead, innocence of youth, a memory forever treasured…
This poem sounds of pain, thus, the title confuses me.
J
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:04 am
If there’s pain here, it’s at the loss of the glow of innocence, not at the events described here.