Poems
ONLY YOUR HANDS
touch
so my eyes swivel inwards
and I'm tented by the hanging roots
of Morton Bay figs
fantastic candles drapery and cauls
of limestone caverns
clouds eerily lit like stormy
photographic
negatives
not you
I've lost sight of you
but your hands
do what sleep can't
release the knots of my bonds
tug at pull free
the endlessly flowing
figured scarves
of dream
WOMAN WITH A HEAD (after George Seferis)
She lifts from a pool
the beautiful sleeping head.
There is no unsightly severing.
It rocks on the marble hull
of itself in her hands.
Landscape
breath
that part of her
that turned to face in the mirror
so eagerly exchanged
for something real.
Is this what it is to fall in love?
A woman gains a head
a head that too may fall
that can't be balanced on her neck.
Hope faintly colouring the cheeks.
She sees beneath the lids
the eyes are moist.
Behind the lips
the teeth and tongue are wet.
The head's oracular.
It promises.
She cannot put it down
but takes its growing weight
with straining arms.
Holding her eyes
the head declares its love.
It tells her who she is,
or almost is.
Croons adjectives,
endearments,
similes.
Always before her
lighting up the way
the head replays
its unique repertoire.
Its patterns, flexible -
the same but not the same.
Entranced, she tries to memorise
its song.
Repeats
mistakes.
Repeats the same mistakes.
It seems she cannot get
her head by heart.
Its melodies escape
and seem to taunt:
You can see
nothing
but yourself!
Liar! she screams.
Her head dis-
integrates.
On the black wind
the lyre's last notes
are heard.
BREASTS
soft,
sunlit, basking,
tanned, black, white,
milky, sweet, rich, full, heavy,
sleepy, pillow, drift, calm, hill, island,
refuge, comfort, gifts, apples, peaches, mangoes,
ripe, sniff, scent, smell, smile, languid, oily, smooth, touch,
nuzzle, cup, lift, splash, drench, intoxicating, burning, icy, astringent,
cleanse, ache, want, give, push, thrust, nipple, harden, bitten, sore, salved,
released, relaxed, rise, fall, pool, ripple, merge, pleasure, part, cleavage,
strap, silky, shiny, clip, shape, wire, satin, lacy, bra, tease, hide, glimpse,
peek, glance, stare, shy, goose bumps, shrinking, tiny, pointed, swollen,
globular, stretched, aureole, hair-ringed, shuddering, mountain, valley,
cheek, sweat, slick, sniff, talc, tumble, loll, rock, slip, clasp, grasp,
hold, grip, cling, taste, lick, suck, engulf, swell, surf, dump,
withdraw, drape, cover, collar, starched, authoritarian,
prow, shelf, broach, ribbon, medal, uniform, different,
puckered, sandwiched, squeezed, sliced, lost,
scar, rage, empty, withered, flapping,
dugs, boobs, tits, robin,
red, breasts