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 Apr 2014 Daniel Samuelson
Jack
~


If I call you beautiful…

Do flowers bloom within your worried eyes
surrounding you with color, with thoughts
Looking past the mirror to that place you have been,
that you long to be again

Do you bite your lip,
looking within, seeking past the darkness,
subconsciously smoothing the ruffles of you dress,
shuffling your feet a bit

Do memories flood your mind
of days before lipstick and eye shadow,
when cute was as common as wrinkled nose smiles,
playing inside or out were your choices

Do you roll your eyes and sigh,
describing a portrait that only you can see,
a mirage of impressions you have collected,
stored away in that file you reach for regularly

Do you brand me blind or crazy at least,
point to that one tiny blemish you know,
turn and walk away kicking dust as you go,
shutting the door in disbelief

Or do you see your reflection in my eyes
the woman that you are to me,
hear the affection in my voice, the truth
and wrinkle your nose once more and say, “I love you”
You stab me in the back with a knife,
and I apologize for bleeding on it.
Our skins barest bare
in this long awaited retreat
we sit on adirondack chair
waves washing our feet.

We know such times are fragile
like dreams leaving at dawn
are like an imagined mile
before are breaths withdrawn!

We ponder not on what to write
not pour one word from breast
just wait for when seeping night
push the ring of flame to the west!

When one by one they come on the far
two shadows grow on the shore
we string one poem with a silken star
hearts sing in joy encore!

We let our bloods flow to the sea
our souls on sands lay bare
When new tides rise in the morn to be
find two adirondack chair!

Life is but death's glorified twin
a delirious din in the hush
our days a riddle of earthly spin
an illusory maddening rush!
comes of a desire of once sitting with Nat Lipstadt at the Henry Island on the empty adirondack chair seen beside his name on the cover.
thank you Nat for giving me this dream.
****, preferable,
but not necessary.

place your hands upon thy thighs,
the thumbs extended,
left to rest,
to fit in the designed, purposed crevice
between the upper torso,
where the soft belly
meets the legs.

your opposable thumbs,
too short to reach
your private part,
instead, your four fingers
to thrum, to drum,
driven by frustrated compulsion,
beat out upon thy exterior
the internal feel,
a basic rhythm.

the arms,
hard by,
press tight into the chest,  
the birth place of poems,
and squeeze,
as if it were a
Heinz Ketchup bottle.

the tapping fingerlings,
the now drifting yet compulsed mind,
the hard-sided pressure,
voila, words form,
heat-furnaced,
energized from within,
all at once will be extruded from
a poem's birth canal,
the heart.
before attempting this, have paper and pen and tissues nearby,
in case you start to
weep.
he tells me that i'm like
a rose
but so has he
and he
and he
and he

and they say it
one at a time
but all together
after each time
thinking its something new
and beautiful
that's never been heard

the banality
makes it seem dishonest
and i don't really like
roses
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