Poem – Inward Images (By Robert Beveridge)

Inward Images

 

Your hair hangs

thick and tangled

over the soft cheek

its ridge of bone smoothed

by years of smiles

 

the blonde ends brush

your nose, glis-

ten with perspiration,

cover the curve

of half your lips

so set, so strident

determined in desire

 

one liquid green eye

imparts immediacy

infects me with sexiness

brazen stare emboldened

by my paeans of lust

clutched in your left hand

 

slightly parted lips

show teeth wet,

gleam hungry

to feel the press

of my mouth on yours

flannel redplaid shirt

threadbare in sunlight

half-open exposes

skin slick with sweat

and shower-remnants

fragrant soap, shampoo

still clings

like faint soy on your breath

from last night’s stir-fry

one light touch

of Eastern mystic innocence

 

forward, you lean to me

to speak of things

best left unsaid yet beaten

in my poems, dragged

into sunlight harsh and barren

 

relief that someone understands

unspoken passion’s pain

relief that lust is understood

and not suppressed,

relief you showed me

one night in the rain,

making glorious love

on my car’s hatchback

mouth to breast

and waist to waist

 

but in its mist dissected

emotion bleeds in those poems

post-mortem feelings

you never had to speak

or show, your poetry

poured its pain

into my cup

 

and once again

I saw into your friendly fears

dissected you in poetry

where you can’t hide

held in my thoughts

 

I lean to touch you

kiss your knee

with the reverence

of a sacrificed messiah

whose whole life has been spent

with bowed head

you call me a teacher

and you call me your lover

I can only tell you

that in our poetry

they are one

and the same

 

Author Bio:

Robert Beveridge makes noise (xterminal.bandcamp.com) and writes poetry just outside Cleveland, OH. Recent/upcoming appearances in Wildflower Muse, Noble/Gas Qtrly, and The Ibis Head Review, among others.