Friday, April 4, 2008

A Holy Man Encounters Lust

The poems are just filler, really. I'm not confident in the medium, but I enjoy exploring it. Will get back to some real sweaty pieces when I'm out of this slump I'm in.


I look at her.
She is across the street.
She bends down
To adjust her heels
So that they fit comfortably.
I do not look away.

I notice these details:
Her heels are red,
She is a wearing a dress
That cuts neatly
Far above her knees;
I can see her full leg.

This moment lasts
No more than four seconds,
But I think of Job.
There has been an agreement
Between Devil and God
To test me: A woman.

I see demons in her soft hair
Parading around the delicate roots.
And I see more crawl down
The long of her neck descending
Into a forbidden crevice.

When she bends down,
There is a shape.
I want to see and feel it,
Even if I know it is sin.
I think of her lower back -
Touching the gentle dip: A pit!

Out of the shape comes her legs.
Her thighs induce in me
Evil imaginations -
Fantasies of the flesh.
I recite the Lord's Prayer.
It is a useless gesture.

Because I am weak:
The calves curve
Down to the ankles
Which feign innocence,
But fail to conceal
The total creature
Of my most ungodly temptation.

5 comments:

Andrea said...

I like how you weave in parts of the body working downward and describe the demons in her soft hair.

The style of this piece is heading in a different direction than your others. Perhaps it is the topic that changes things...? It's nice in the simplistic sense, but I was expecting your other style of writing: the gritty, fast-thinking, overflowing emotional work. Would you consider doing your next lustful piece in a different manner? I think you could achieve greater tonal expression that way, but that's just me. :)

Jonathan said...

Sorry my response took so long.

I love your brevity, Tom. I imagine the holy man regressing into fits of small thoughts, and I think the length of each sentence-thought is perfect.

I found these lines best:

I think of her lower back -
Touching the gentle dip: A pit!

Though, I warn you, forbidden crevices and temptresses are tired. Have you anything else as alternative? I think something more euphemistic would be excellent. Oh, I know -- turn the holy man's spiritualism into eroticism. Make his defense the very thing that fuels his lusts.

But, Tom -- great work. We've yet to have a reading between us. I'll bring some of mine; you bring some of yours.

Forest Fire said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jonathan said...

Tom, it's been a month and a half. I want to read more writings.

Tom said...

Got scraps of written material here and there. I'll try to finish and publish one of those pieces soon, just for you, my friend.