VENUS UNEARTHED BY THE CHRISTIANS
At first they sermonized her some
and prayed long over her and around her
And yet she solidly refused to change
In their Christian charity
(it was more rampant then)
they decided not to destroy her
And yet
it was not a good thing for the children
to see her touching herself in that way
So the arms would have to go
RELUCTANT SHE RISES – A VALENTINE FOR DORSEY
Reluctant she rises from morning love
The voice of a million things to do
Argues with the voice
of the perfect moment
Slowly concedes
and falls back
into a purr
ODE TO NERUDA
You have gifted the world with your being
and your words the fruits of your being
You have seen the mother and the lover
in the sea tides rocking rhyme
In the flowers of her hair
in your politics of care
You remind us of the role of all poets
to open and meet the world naked
To perceive the world naked
to receive the world naked
To sing the world naked
naked as your hand
BUTTERFLY
I had this urge to turn
and touch my lips to yours
ever so ever so lightly
My softness to your sweetness
like a butterfly’s
first taste
of
cotton candy
OH TO NERUDA
Oh Pablo you rise up
from a land, long as a woman’s back
And you have loved your land
as you would love a woman
as you have loved women as you loved
your land
Every rock and shoal of their coastlines
every mood of their tides
You have caressed them
with your mind and your heart
and your hands
And have received the treasures
that must
always rise up
from their endless depths
to meet such a touch
GOODNIGHT MARILYN
(or dyin ain’t easy but it’s a livin)
All heroes will be expected to die young
to keep their fans from growing old
and will be well rewarded
in unspendable gold
If it’s sex you give then sex it pays
so take along the two young Ks
Though a frozen instant Porsche crash
could be worth a lot of cash
And the Colonel smiles as the money piles
for haunting supermarket aisles
But for biggest gross and longest run
it’s still the cross at thirty one