The Poetry Marathon

I have a world weary web
under each eye.

Sometimes I want them flattened.

But along each thread, travel
the things I have seen
the wants I have felt
the needs I have forgotten.

Splaying out like questing fingers
onto my still young-enough cheeks

they meet and mesh;
and remind me that I still live.

I wrote my best
to the morning

asking forgiveness
for the love lost
between us

for when moonlight
met my heart
I knew I’d never
again wake

bathed in early
golden light

with both eyes
open.

I’d often leave our bed at night

silent, with you still sleeping

and return each time on

soft-socked feet; to find

your sprawl warming my side.

Without breaking snore, you’d

slide back to yours (gone cold)

and open wide the covers

a gaping nest of your curves

and cradles; your heat flowing

out in waves I could taste.

I’d slip in and be drawn,

(sense sodden)

into your crook; you’d hold

me like warmed satin steel

until my shivers left.

You rarely remembered these

moments; I never forgot.

Perhaps they’re why I woke up.

You always loved me best

in your sleep.

I like dirt gritty and uneven beneath

my hands; knees wearing

the shapes of ancient rock beds

the risks of forest floors

with their hidden sharpnesses.

Give me the grasp you don’t

know is too tight; hips forward

head back in deepest roar –

your strength the tie that binds us.

I want the aching dust to burst;

bead into our sweat, smashing

like atoms where we clash.

A cave, an open dirty expanse,

desert flat, untamed garden;

a hot sun scalding me

where your shadow does not fall.

Mouths open to dropped water

from the sky, catching the calm

to renew the rough;

beasts beside a moody sea.

I know myself best as the animal

slurping brute power and the

rush of pleasure’s brand of nothing;

let my softness make you stronger

and take me down into the blackness

we all came from.

What a great initiative to flood to globe with words and sleeplessness. I will keep this short as I have many words to come, and I relish the chance to unleash my sometimes neglected poetic muscles.

I am glad to be joining you all!

C x