Heavily Edited Poem!

[rowangrove]

Ok, here is version two of that last poem I wrote, which has been rewritten with the help of some truly excellent pointers from Mara. :)

I like this version much better. I may do some minor tweaking - and to that end, please comment if there are any adjustments you would make - but on the whole I think it stands up fairly well.

Strawberries

Me, ankle deep in wet mud
Rescuing the last strawberries from inglorious decay
Sodden with too much rain
Forecast: unceasing drizzle, indefinitely

I would not have been there,
Umbrella insinuated between neck and shoulder
Bending to peer between matte leaves and black plastic
But
I had spent weeks anticipating the too-short harvest
Lusting over their jewel-like flesh
Their Willendorf hips and maiden thighs
Which yield under my teeth with less protest
Than the slick, red vinyl of cherries;
Seeds like stars flung net-like over the earth
Placed carefully at the apices of diamonds

You, emerging from the distance
Hazy and anonymous at first
Like a fortune wrung from twice-boiled tea leaves
Resolving as you approach
Into warmth, and breath, and touch
Rain beaded like seed pearls, cool on your lips
Bodies ripe unto bursting crushed under your weight
Palette-knife smears of crimson between the green and grey
Like lipstick smudged around the mouth of a face
Otherwise devoid of maquillage;
Evanescent pleasures envelop a nascent joy