Wednesday, October 6, 2010

closing the space


spiritually
surefooted and kind
her words
curled like smoke
around my heart

her mouth
opened abysses
of sensation
that were as bottomless
as they were boundless

cravings being what they are
her mouth became more
to me
than
her words

you see her words
offered little comfort

little solace

no reassurance
that even when my heart's eyes
closed
i could still see

they were lacking that inner sense
that it would be alright
to feel her in my hands
and nowhere else

and so i came to hope
for that great space
uncluttered by expectation

and i was prepared
to pay almost any price
to feel the walls
come tumbling down

and sense the press of her mouth
against mine

which
if she’d been a book
would’ve been
like reading the last page first

and so it all
ended
even as it began

with a glance
across a room

a wish to close the space
by opening another
a leaving
as brave
and unlikely
as the arrival.


painting by tom trythall rowe "overtures"

16 comments:

Linda Sue said...

I read this "uncluttered with expectation" - blown away and feeling so sad having kissed the last page first with that sort of knowing...This one undid me and will stay with me for a very long time. It hits right here (moves hand over entire chest area)

Lorenzo — Alchemist's Pillow said...

Hey, Steven, I saw her first!

Very nicely done and excuse my facetiousness ;)

steven said...

hey lorenzo! really!!! ha!! steven

steven said...

linda sue i imagine there are many people who may connect with the essence of this piece in some way. it's a tough one to carry. thanks for your comment. steven

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Lovely steven. You've captured so beautifully those fleeting moments of recognition, attunement, possibility - where the atmosphere is heavy with what might be, but where vows and duty trump longing.

Reya Mellicker said...

Wow.

Steven that is so steamy, sexy, true. And it ends well, after all. Oh the almosts.

Those almosts really kill me! Later on, they make me smarter.

You make me smarter. Thank you.

Tess Kincaid said...

Utterly gorgeous. I read this through three times, out loud. I'm taking it back to the manor with me to savor, gently, slowly. Sigh.

Tessa said...

Poet, artist, scribe and sage. Steven you are amazing.

steven said...

bonnie thankyou. there's so much more to the context that i chose not to share of course but it is what it is. steven

steven said...

reya - this one became an actuality of sorts - a bridge between worlds. she even said she would be as much. i laughed at the time. she was entirely correct! steven

steven said...

willow thankyou for your kindness of thought. steven

steven said...

hello tessa - thankyou for these very generous and flattering words. i am all of them and less. steven

Cheryl Cato said...

"cravings being what they are"... oh have we not all been there at some point in time. lovely, stirring, sexy. thanks steven.

Reya Mellicker said...

A bridge between worlds, eh?

EXACTLY like my experience! Such a sad glad perfect almost my experience was.

steven said...

ahhh lizzy all too true!!! thankyou. steven

steven said...

reya - the person ... she, caught me on the bridge and saw that i was living in a world that well wasn't my world and she was like a guide of sorts and took me back into my own world. but it's very frightening there and means that i have to let go of a very lot. so i went there and stayed for six months and then retreated to a more useful place. in this world but not entirely of it. i think that there are people like you and i who hover or even dance between and through worlds. sometimes other people take us on that journey. steven