FOR MARIA, The One who came suddenly Yet never more perfectly Published by http://www.gregglory.com gregglory@aol.com Word File Author reading the poem The Held Echo (mp3 format)
It wasn’t a quiet time.
All things were on simmer
and actively non-disruptive.
All little engines were
running under the daily stress test.
We were running.
We were functional.
We were stable but worn.
We were not gray but utilitarian in color.
A climax was a signature on the document.
The denouement: the contract signed in triplicate,
Part of the great collection.
But it was as if I were cooking a meal in a cauldron
That held the seal to an old god.
The seals were strong provided noone heated them.
The odor that arose smelled of something beyond food.
It wasn’t a quiet time before she came.
But it would seem that way afterward.
There came a soft certainty Returning under years of kept doubt There was another who was intertwined with I A friend A just desire Same as my heart Who would shovel into my passage Unexpected Grand As boots slapping into calm waters, Vodka distilled from innocence, The band striking up too soon -- These changes crash so goldenly. The very wave of joy, Churning deeply and unforgiving, She came…
I am in trouble. A light walked thru my peripheral view and sat off center. And yet, after I could no longer see much else. I should not have to wish for dusk. Love is troublesome. It loosens old wealth, And burns through sealed doors. It smells like lightning unstruck, And feels like change. People kill it when they see it Yet will still kill to receive it. We are unsure of its sentience, Whether it feeds off uncertainty Or merely leaves it in its wake. It seems to find logic quaint. We know a truckload could level a country or a person to rubble. We wear protection when it comes. It submits no reports. It occupies too much. It undoes what was done. Love is troublesome, And I am in trouble.
One moment Drifting upon polished heartstrings Rendered all masks to lime. You came like these unexpected words like your shuddering thighs like a board sundered. I still recall flower-like eyes caught like a flame in gems, burning the air with melodies, A laugh leaving a scent Warm deep beyond her face – All held in this delicious longing I now own. I know I am walking but I don't know where my legs are. I hear matches being struck. I am flooded. I have never felt as large yet as connected -- a part of all things -- as now. silent firecrackers pop around my fingers - Midas Touch of motion. A rush of blood rejoinders…
I arrive here without distances or weight. I roll down the window with my skin tasting fresh memories, hair raised and standing as if in the highland wind. I let it go. Yesterday. The past swept up into the sky, yet I remembered the taste of adventure. I stand amazed at the electric effect of my smile, a wave rolling out from me, to my friends, to others. I bask in the sun during rainstorms. I feel joy gurgling and burst forth from my chest. I think of you. And I think of you again.
I was smelling sweet deep flesh from the stirrings of your crush my beatific muse one bare touch eats ahead at memory repeat our beguiled reverie with lips apart while eyes unmask delicious wonder one taste of your cheek haunts my heart
This great happening that is us Has surrounded me as if underwater. My hands move etherally. Movements measure exactly Yet so vibrant. You can catch all consequences in a ripple. I have gills, I can fly,I have my license again for the first time. I am drunk off holy wine And it woke up a star in my gut. I have embodied all substance Cynics close their eyes to And call blind. But the water holds us both buoyantly Regardless of sink or swim. I glide along weightless.
Burning wood brims over the smell of the air. The tribe of the living huddle indoors sharing cups and rubbing hands. I smell old leaves and rich cocoa on your neck. Daylight Savings Time in autumn makes me feel playfully dirty. I gain time like a thief uncaught, to squander or hammer as indulgently as I choose. I sneak this moment with you from the pocket of the world. With your back on my chest, gold bubbles through me like a liquid sun while the wind bounces painfully off the window. We are a shield together, and the world concedes to our safecracking.
The ripple of two waterdrops beam back from a photo of you in my arms. A capture that spokes a thousand verbs. The moment still rolls forward warmly and the light still spins out from you, even now. And I still dizzy my smile upon its simmering silence. This round glaze steals through my own gravity, lifts me from my lists, bears me upon its shoulders: childlike and ontop of the globe. And this is as much as I wish to trap such a light, one that heals like sitting in the path of a sunray. I can still taste a hint of the peace in my mouth when I breathe through my nose. I feel your breast again, against my torso. Why - How - would I demand for containment? for possession? when I can witness your willing embrace unbidden? Let us step though the carpet of the world and watch it watching us like we were in black and white still shining through a found photograph, almost forgotten.
We were driving down the same road Talking about the world from our seat. With no lead-in, You promised you would be good to me. Stated simply. Sincere. But no words have ever bit through my ribs and consumed my heart so. I did not return the phrase not because I didn’t hold the same but because I did not wish to parrot words. But there was all ready such a pact beneath my surface. I knew I would show you This one glow I see when all mirrors are broken. I will give you back to you When you thought you threw it out. And you will reach behind the words I’ve spoken, to show a source When I have lost faith in language: This wide exchange between eyes I knew would shape my life From the way it rolled through me Out me To you Through you Out you To me… And the way it still does…
Fabric rubs. Buttons crack. Tips trace. Breath spills. Neck drinks. Curtains part. Light swims. Eyes drink. Passion stretches. Nails travel. Hills raise. Fingers run. Music squeals. Palms circle. Parts meet. Arches lift. Teeth sink. Hair whips. Ends beat. Beginnings come. Legs gush. Rivers soak. Pillows sigh. Halos form. Jeffery Moller
