He asked if we’d done anything scary lately. Even, perhaps, terrifying.
Such a strong word, that. I don’t know if I am really terrified of anything I’ve been wanting to do. Except maybe… maybe sharing my sexy-pie poems.
Perhaps you didn’t know this about me? That I have a thing for love poems? And I write them incessantly. And I hardly ever share them.
The terrifying part? (Okay, or maybe just a little scary.) I’ve been toying with the idea of not only sharing my sexy-pie poems but perhaps publishing a whole book of them. I’ve even got section essays in my head. One of them is called Sexy Pie. (No surprise there, now, huh?) The others might be called Birthday, Rabia, and Poet’s Kiss. Or something like that. It’s all in there, in my head, asking me if I have the courage to let it surface.
Maybe I won’t ever have the courage. Maybe I’ll just start here today with a couple of poems. And hope you’ll like them, if only a little.
*
Rolling
Is there such a thing
as disposable sexy pie?
Does it come in aluminum, flimsy?
*
Mulberries
I have never seen one,
he said,
speaking of the mulberry tree.
They are large, I told him.
It is hard to reach the berries,
though some branches weep down,
and in the weeping
your chance is granted.
Dark, dark purple, I told him. Indigo maybe.
The stain goes deep.
It will ruin your clothes, I told him—
even as you can’t stop yourself
from taking more
and more and more and more.
*
Tilt
This morning, in the sunset yellow dining room,
I held the Princeton to my lips, its handle soft
between my thumb and tiny index finger,
its gold rim imperceptible to taste, but circling
nonetheless.
Lazy, perhaps, or careless, I had seated the Princeton
in the Profile saucer (also white, also fine bone). Still.
When I held it close, and towards the light, my left hand
joining the embrace, I thought to ask you this:
Did you know, if you tilt the bone just right,
you can see the fingers silhouetted, on the other side.
*
After Reading Videlock at Suppertime
There were no plums today,
but in the hands of the right man
a round of ravioli, heated right,
with (hot hot!) fra diavolo, would be pay enough.
And we needn’t dress the salad much.
*
Replenish
Remind me, would you,
to buy more of the Peach Momotaro,
with its images of waterfalls, lichen-toned
terraces, waves of mountains imprinted
with dots, little white flowers, and mist.
When I drink it, and the steam enters me,
I think of you and the water feels as if
it’s pouring over the mountains.
*
Photo by Claire Burge. Used with permission. Post by L.L. Barkat, author of Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing
___________
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L.L. Barkat
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Maureen Doallas says
Fruits I Favor
Cherries have their pits,
apples their cores.
Bananas have to be
peeled, peaches de-stoned.
Oranges can be halved,
shared, and squeezed
gently once you remove
their pebbly skinned suits.
Roll one
to me.
Will you?
L. L. Barkat says
Oh, Maureen, that’s delightful. 🙂
Eric 'Bubba' Alder says
Nothing wrong with exploring the sexy side of life, L.L. – it’s just another part of love. Sometimes people try to deny its allure when they should be embracing it.
L. L. Barkat says
Thanks, Eric. I thought to try to go further with a possible explanation of my fear. But the post seemed full enough. I think that to explore this side of life is to embrace my womanhood. And that is perhaps where the real fear lies. I might explore that in the book (if I do it). All the childhood stuff that has brought me here, to a place where I have to say… what… that I’m afraid of sexy-pie? Yes.
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell says
Laura,
I love this new genre you’ve created–“The Sexy Pie” poems! They are, of course, delicious. (And you know I’m a reader who eats poems before she reads them.)
My favorite is “Tilt” (that last unanswerable question left hanging in the air.) Tres belle, tres beau!
laura says
I, for one, am glad you shared your sexy pie poems. These words might make people hungry…for what, though? 😉 Terrifyingly fun.
Diana Trautwein says
Without your preamble, these poems speak to me of sensuality, grace, tenderness, and enough steam and hot stuff to keep life interesting and challenging. To place them in the realm of love poems? Oh my, yes, please. Sigh.