Cross-post from war_poetry:

Envoy to PalestineI’ve come to this one grassy hill ( Read more... )

Blue DementiaIn the days when a man ( Read more... )

Hi poetry lovers,

I'm looking for poems dealing with jealousy/envy. If you know of and share any, I will appreciate it! <3 In return, here's a poem by Yusef Komunyakaa. It's from his most recent collection,The Chameleon Couch.

Ode to the Guitar

The strings tremble & traverse
back up through that other
strong muscle singing blood
& guilt. Press a finger ( Read more... )

Facing ItMy black face fades ( Read more... )

Because I mistrust my head & hands, because I know salt
      tinctures my songs, I tried hard not to touch you
even as I pulled you into my arms. Seasons sprouted
      & went to seed as we circled the dance with silver cat bells
tied to our feet. Now, kissing you, I am the archheir of second
          chances.
      Because I know twelve ways to ( Read more... )

My Father's Loveletters
by Yusef Komunyakaa

On Fridays he'd open a can of Jax
Close his eyes, & ask me to write
The same letter to my mother
Who sent postcards of desert flowers
Taller than a man.  He'd beg her
Return & promised to never
Beat her again.  I was almost happy
She was gone, & sometimes wanted
To slip in something bad.
His carpenter's apron ( Read more... )

I can’t touch you.
His face always returns;
we exchange long looks
in each bad dream
& what I see, my God.
Honey, sweetheart,
I hold you against me
but nothing works.
Two boats moored,
rocking between nowhere
& nowhere.
A bone inside me whispers
maybe tonight,
but I keep thinking
about the two men wrestling nude
in Lawrence’s Women in Love.
I can’ ( Read more... )

BOYS IN DRESSES

We were The Hottentot Venus ( Read more... )

Something or someone. A feeling
among a swish of reeds. A swampy
glow haloes the Spanish moss,
& there's a swaying at the edge
like a child's memory of abuse
growing flesh, living on what
a screech owl recalls. Nothing
but a presence that fills up
the mind, a replenished body
singing its way into doubletalk.
In the city, Will o' the Wispfloats ( Read more... )

Venus'-flytrapsYusef Komunyakaa ( Read more... )