Love Poems

The Poems You Write After Nine Years of Marriage...

“Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery. ”

-Wendell Berry

For my wife...

OM

It starts with convex lips.
Your tongue lifting slightly,
as if to greet the sun.
Your mouth, one big O,
breath moving, with the
rise and fall of lungs.
Getting ready for a kiss
is pretty much the same.
You pucker your lips
and let yourself go,
the boundary of self
lost in a jumble of tongues.
Like monks in linen sheets,
we Om and moan,
bodies bent before the sun.
No space for flesh and bone.
Just the shape of your lips
and a space to call my own.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

PUDDLE DREAMS

Nothing but rain and the world
outside flipped on its head.
The moon like a berry 
in the mouth of the skyline,
slivers of light shining
through its teeth.
And there you are,
walking down the street.
Crashing through my puddle,
the moon beneath your feet.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

BEDTIME

There is nothing left but the gentle way
of planetary bodies finding their feet.
The universe like a child rocking to sleep,
mouth pressed against its mother’s breast,
the satisfied grunts of a child well fed—
A universe we share in our queen-sized bed.

Your mother’s arms are as wide as the world.
Your little round head nestled in her chest.
Your eyes are barely open, two slits of cosmic black.
The starlight on your face what’s slipped between the cracks.

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