Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Late for the

PERMISSION

Solicitous weeks now I’ve winked at the doorknob,
my exit and return a pattern speaking
of some secret I shared with the world
only by entering into it, declaring myself
the cargo of airlines and buses,
practicing rope knots and reciting
alien slang, dyeing my hair
until I was the kin of woodland creatures,
Romulus gone wrong, Remus unaccounted for,
and Rome nowhere beneath me,
through the twill of clouds
decaying by the day. Gumdrop,
I called you when you slept
or when you wrestled
with duvets, giggling like a wild bell,
impossible not to love,
a factual seduction. And all that while,
I said I knew poker
faces but all I knew
was how I swam to you
in the mirror or how the ducks by the lake
bristled and were doubled
over the water, in flight,
no fan of the names I lent them
or the crusts of bread I balled up for them.
All I knew were dish towels
and every remittance of breath
I paid to the air in apology
for your absence. As though I had that right.
But, still I did, and do,
and every cloud I swear
is consolation. Every cloud
and half-tended garden
and nook of odd darkness
and every syllable of praise
and even the rare sweet meal
or song which served the minutes well.
Listen: I’m singing.

7 comments:

Keith Montesano said...

Beautiful stuff. Though it's been a month since the last post, the poem's worth it.

Anonymous said...

beautiful

Emma said...

Stumbled across you while searching for some small understanding of Sarah Hannah, whom I only recently learned of. I don't think I've ever come across a blog's title I love more than yours.

Jett Superior said...

Some days I cry to easily and on those days I am not well served in turning over meaty things like this one.

Sorry to hear about your leg (It's been three years and mine is still healing in crazy fits and starts).

Jett Superior said...

'TOO easily', even

soft grass said...

such a gorgeous poem, paul.

how are your leg, assistant, and mobility being handled?

Anonymous said...

in image cast by the the phrase "giggling like a wild bell" is beautiful. i love how you illustrate this person in such a lyrical way