More Poetry (by others...)

In The Morning by Jenn Carson

Absolutely beautiful
The way your smile slides sideways
with those shy eyes
shy eyes
that tell me so much
so much you cannot
will not
say

Absolutely, achingly beautiful
Like a thick pulsing raindrop
hanging off the edge of a leaf
waiting
waiting to hit the ground
and be blown apart

You surprise me in the morning
when you roll over
to wipe the drool off my chin
and the sleep from my eyes
being careful not to breathe in my face

And you kiss my forehead
rub your beard against my cheek
and I feel everything tingle
running up the inside of my thighs
out my fingertips
and I shiver
I shiver
because I cannot contain my excitement
at knowing that I have been
blessed with holding
something so precious
so real
so so so
beautiful





I Listened by Jenn Carson

Like a forty-year-old menopausal housewife
I got to the point where I didn't know who I was
Not because I cooked every meal for my ungrateful husband
Not because I taxi-cabbed my children to the mall and the skating rink
But because you told me how to think
how to think porperly
because I didn't think properly
and stupid me stupid me
I listened

Like a handicapped child who couldn't go to the bathroom alone
I got to the point where I didn't know how to function
Not because I was making faces on command for immature classmates
Not because I wasn't taught how to add or subtract
But because you told me how to act
how to act properly
because I didn't act properly
and stupid me stupidme
I listened

Like a wounded basset hount kept on a leash
I got to the point where I didn't know how to obey
Not because I kept chasing the neighbour's cat from the yard
Not because I buried black birds and dead doves
But because you told me how to love
how to love properly
because I didn't love porperly
and stupid me stupid me
I listened



An Our by Jenn Carson

I look forward to watching you age
watching your hairline fall away
and your skin dry and wrinkle and change pigments

I look forward to you fondling my droppy breasts
and rubbing my strech-marked belly
and laughing over all the memories

And that means so much more to me
than the delusional revolving-door
of a fling-filled perpetual youth

I look forward to
sharing a future
to knowing
to having
and

our