with his breath on my neck, his brown italian eyes exploring my body, he whispered, "i want to educate you, physically and mentally," and i shivered, a whole body shudder, longing and lusting, wanting him to take me by the hand and show me the way.

Freshly baked
  Italian bread aroma
    permeated Sunday mornings
      in my old familiar neighborhood
      we'd inhale the heavenly scent
    drawing in deeply as we briskly
  entered the shop to buy
      a steaming hot loaf




© Carmela M. Patterson, All rights reserved.

Why do i always mumble, i always do, even if i try not to.
I was thinking of how i mumble when i talk to you, and how i sounded last thursday when i asked you to go bowling, you said no[you had an okay excuse]
I am not worried if you like me, I am not worried if i mumbled because non of it matters.
The way you smiled and waved. you looked so happy to see me. your lips curved and your smile exposed your lies and your skills to tell the truth[may you use them wisely]
You asked me to go to the mall. I smiled and nodded, my voice cracked as you gave me butterflies.
Its now 3:00 on a saturday, you messaged me on thursday[it didnt  say the time]
I messaged you today and I'm waiting. I've been waiting. I'll wait, You will never reply.

This takes place on a rooftop above the city
Almost twangy, almost

Stars are out, and boy, are they ever strong
The sweetest lullaby of a love song
Sung to me from your fingertips
Patetico

Strumming the notes as you would a lover
Best friends turned to endless memories
Perfect, soft whispers
Harmonies that make me listen so close
I don't want to miss a thing

Breathing in the calmest wind-- your air
Sospirando
Coming together with a melody that grows
Two bodies unified as one loud symbol--
Crescendo, dolcissimo, fortepiano, melting gelato  

Rosy reds and the palest clouds
Awakening both hearts, not a dream
You tighten your grip and beg me not to go
Ostinato

As long as you keep singing from your fingertips
Appassionato
And if those hands are your outlets
Bravura
I’ll stay here
Al fine

A pair of black shoes
draw a dollar bill from your hand
with their coal-dusted paws
But rumor has it
they prefer hundreds--because they're blue.
            Blue gets their wings trimmed
just right.

Wine is dry at Contessa's party.

Liquor gives it a merciful taste.
                        A little salt
(draw it from her body; it hangs
from her lashes)  adds to the universal
bitterness.
                                   Her sadness.


8-11-14

Fratellino's rock collection
turned into flower petals.
      Madre has a portrait of him
putting them in his hair, turning into Sorellina instead.

Boys play football in my heart
Their ball falls in a canal in
Venezia.
It's lost in
Venezia because I closed my eyes,
Guidebook in hand--
Phrasebook at my side--
Dictionary omnipresent somehow--

Mother calls them inside, it's time to learn again.

I first saw the wheat in the morning,
smelled the wind blustering forth--
Wondered that it must taste like
that very morning, in what complex way crops do.

And when the bear-locusts eat them,
what they would say
if they bled pans of gold to romance their amber,
if only then
would they be jubilant
if only on their death beds!

"Don't admire the fields," says Agricoltore.
Why?
"Because they like--they don't change."

Become

These are the verses of indecision-
Of being scared of what might be.
Or what might not, have we forgot
How to put faith in what we cannot see?

In trying times, we seek to be free
(From pain, from ego, from strife-)
But you can’t outrun your responsibility,
And these trials are the key to life.

So if you carry such burdens, and cry
And can’t seem to find the path you own-
Give in to the moment, end those sighs
And trust that you will be taken home.

For there is no value but what we place in stone,
You can only care if you choose to give.
If it’s not returned, what’s given wasn’t earned
Since all things end, how will you choose to live?

Maybe these are verses of  wisdom.
Yes, they speak of things that may yet be.
Give in to desire, don’t lose that fire
Trust your heart, and be set free.