4.07.2013

Three Poems by Erica Hunt



There’s living done

This morning I was well in love
making and fluctuating this side of
Remote: here.  Over and over
I moved him closer into my arms
Him.  Till sleep still ensorcels
Him and stillness leans
on my breasts.  Nothing to puncture this
wide awake moment.
Nothing downstairs or upstairs
Nothing I owe
no shrines to pine at
but a given art
pauses thought’s caught thread.
 

In the well of this morning’s
making Here over, I step back
towards the opening.  I think
Here.  That’s him sliding back against me
where we rub edges and coincidentally meet.
He steeps remote steep
slippery sides and still
breasts retain echo.  I throw the door
open and step back
wide awake into the fluctuating
think I have thought this here before
but that was sewing without thread.
Now I take each part,
take both sides,
lurching onward with the pin.



What I know now

procrastination is a signal
to attend to the scent
earth unhinges,
to fall into the step
desire ungrids,
to write in blue ink and commit
to gesture
a map
match unknown
to its incognito.


I know now
when you think
the weather’s turning
it is inner
demarcation,
unstopped heart moves
stones as if clouds blown
across the sky, unstopped
eyes notice food lines’ length
unstopped attention notes
pavements filled with sleepers,
how the brutal war startles
even statues into panic,
losing the power to wake up
the future, its urgent
recovery.

 
I know now
to vote for sense
even if the tongue
risks blisters
through direct speech,
threatens barbwire,
to commit to motion always
my Black woman body’s
a spice cabinet,
a space ship,
my thick vessel
a perfect work.

 
Thomas

He sees what others do not see.  He marries a blind woman who cannot contradict what he says he sees. He sees his hands even when he is not awake but dreaming, fists open or closed.  He sees how people’s bodies speak even when they are not talking but waiting, when people think they are blending in. He sees that often he is the only person paying close attention.  He has always been observant and comes from a long line of observant people.  

For instance
lip licking
eye twitching
crotch touching
arm holding
neck bent to one side
chin lowering
chin holding
chin rubbing
leg crossing
leg shaking
knee rubbing
ankle rubbing
ankle rotating
bottom shifting
underpants snapping
sitting up straight
sloughing
leaning forward
hip holding
hip akimbo
hip dipping
neck rolling
Hands between the legs protectively as one sleeps.

lip licking (pace)
eye twitching (arrhythmia)
crotch touching (length of time)
arm holding (angle of repose)
neck bent to one side (degree)
chin lowering (impulse control)
chin holding (fixed)
chin rubbing (heat)
leg crossing (closed circuit)
leg shaking (tempo)
knee rubbing (wish)
ankle rubbing (erase)
ankle rotating (ignition)
bottom shifting (agreement/disagreement)
underpants snapping (punctuation)
sitting up straight (alarm)
sloughing (archaeology)
leaning forward (edge search)
hip holding (measure)
hip akimbo (skeptical)
hip dipping (stroll for the people)
neck rolling (enemy sighted)
Hands between the legs protectively as one sleeps.

 

 



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