Unrefined poetry - Connections
Connections
Sometimes it seems so simple;
that I could just breathe you in with my body
into a moment
shared
through touch.
to let my heart's joy,
run through the gaps of clenched fist
escape and pool in the deep chalice of my soul.
I drink this golden liquid and infuse my being with light
and warmth
and the craving to express my love
with a kiss.
But always it gets so complex;
At a safe distance we throw words
some like roses, or daggers
their sweet pain confusing and cutting,
ripping and rending
my simple joy to shreds
and placing it carefully in a silken coffin
to be wrapped and buried with epitaph reading
"here is love, defined:"
The cold stone is neatly carved.
Emotions boxed and labeled, pinned butterflies
drying behind glass
We stand and stare like strangers
eyes veiling the soul with hurt
expecting the immanent pain.
I remember to breathe
and I move closer
into the place where boundaries melt.
Everything is said by your Touch:
soft gentleness, a hint of reverence
mingled with childlike vulnerability
and perfused by love
we leave the words to one side
and in that moment
it is all so simple;
with our body's skin in contact, we connect.
-----------------
I really struggle to try and express my feelings about touch, and love, and all of that. Touch is massively neglected sense by most of us, and worse than that 'touching' someone is starting to become synomous with some kind of sexual abuse especially when it comes to touching children. Paradoxically, despite not physically touching each other a lot in this culture our language is full of touch and skin related words "feeling" "I was touched" "thick skinned" "got under my skin" "touching performance" "in touch" etc. It is quite hard to write a poem about touch/touching though.
I'm going to show this to a real poet tomorrow and try and get some tips. My attempts at poetry are like my sketchy pencil doodles, I want to refine them but I don't quite have the skill to do so without loosing the essence of it.
-------
Edit I've found a good poem here The Touch by Ann Sexton