Poem 478

Delight of a truly unguarded moment … this is from a small group of poems written in the nineties for somebody, the titles and subjects stemming from things we’d said … I was no longer trying to pursue art in these poems, just looking for a simple and forthright medium of communication …

( I like how the rhymes fall where they may, pulling something loose knit slowly together … )

You Really Laughed

The laugh seen once
                                             pulled on like a baggy suit of clothes
perfect
scattering all your others
draws me on
                           to see one more
but arriving always
at the wrong door
the wrong time
the business of our lives and our love
loud on the tills
when I want to lie down
and be still
stalk the moment
that lies in you

you laughed and my heart
became liquid
brimmed out of my body
like a slopped coffee cup
I opened my mouth wide
in surprise
opened wide my eyes
doing a handstand for joy
in front of the breaking wave
of your real laugh
real free 
                  you
thrilled me

I go mining for more
rummaging in the silks and the tat
of your smiles that were scattered 
and now must pay
one more time
knowing it’s there
knowing I won’t find it
today