(no subject)
A Tiger’s Ocean
After a painting by John Godward, ‘Expectation’ (1910)
I wondered if you tasted still
the oranges and yellows
of my sweet satin dresses,
or whether you wasted
your skin on another’s
caresses.
The latter I supposed:
what else could’ve kept you
from devotion
to me; this sleeping sea?
this puny ocean?
The building of a ship was set in motion.
I had great plans to find you,
traversing on my belly’s hull
the planes of chopping water,
with the rigging of my ribcage
and my lazy head on hand, a prow
with sights set to the sea.
*
That was a long time ago:
now my ship lies
stranded on the sand,
while the shoreline is prowled
by a tiger’s ocean.
With waves like claws,
it tore my insides out,
a punishment
for impatience.
The swell of it’s shoulders
unsteadied me -
I tumbled under
curling crest
into a gaping maw that hissed
with dripping foamy teeth -
the jaw bit down and stung
my poor blue heart.
and the lips of the horizon
curled into a smile,
satisfied it knew
it could keep us two apart.
*
So scuppered, now I can only rot,
forgotten, but faithful,
with a head full of
anxious thoughts.
I watch with hollow eyes,
unblinking, like a fish
thrown back into the water,
unwanted after being caught.
After a painting by John Godward, ‘Expectation’ (1910)
I wondered if you tasted still
the oranges and yellows
of my sweet satin dresses,
or whether you wasted
your skin on another’s
caresses.
The latter I supposed:
what else could’ve kept you
from devotion
to me; this sleeping sea?
this puny ocean?
The building of a ship was set in motion.
I had great plans to find you,
traversing on my belly’s hull
the planes of chopping water,
with the rigging of my ribcage
and my lazy head on hand, a prow
with sights set to the sea.
*
That was a long time ago:
now my ship lies
stranded on the sand,
while the shoreline is prowled
by a tiger’s ocean.
With waves like claws,
it tore my insides out,
a punishment
for impatience.
The swell of it’s shoulders
unsteadied me -
I tumbled under
curling crest
into a gaping maw that hissed
with dripping foamy teeth -
the jaw bit down and stung
my poor blue heart.
and the lips of the horizon
curled into a smile,
satisfied it knew
it could keep us two apart.
*
So scuppered, now I can only rot,
forgotten, but faithful,
with a head full of
anxious thoughts.
I watch with hollow eyes,
unblinking, like a fish
thrown back into the water,
unwanted after being caught.