A Poem · 4:09am Jul 2nd, 2018
As none of you knew before this point in time, I write poetry as well as stories about horses. I was going back through some of my old stuff and thought I might post this one.
***
The Birds, the Bees, and I
We are rude and polite and homicidal and self-sacrificing
The angel stops to embrace the demon
The rising ape touches the falling deity
And they nod to one another in comprehension
Of things that they cannot understand
Without the other
But
A man waits in the doctor’s office
He is wealthy, successful
But he has never felt weaker.
It is his heart. Never the healthiest;
Weighed down by years of stress and
Not enough love.
He takes out his phone, looks at the screen
The smiling face of his daughter looks back.
He goes into surgery.
He does not come back out.
But sex
Mother is another name for God
In the hearts and mouths of children
And father is there to bandage cuts and scrapes
Grandparents, cousins
Aunts, uncles, siblings
And the family we choose for ourselves.
But sex is
A young woman stands in the cemetery.
All the other mourners have left already,
Even her mother
But she stands by her father’s grave
Letting out all the tears she hid during the ceremony
Regretting and loving and hating and caring and hurting
Until a hand slips into hers
And her best friend in the whole world guides her to a cab.
They spend the night getting drunk, eating ice cream
And watching terrible sci-fi movies
But sex is the only
Friends that hold you tight
And mockingly tease you for being a dork
Friends that sit together at lunch
And make fun of other people- together
Friends that look you in the eye when you are low and say “You wanna watch Doctor Who?”
Silver and gold are worthless next to them.
But sex is the only relationship
She draws designs on the other’s skin,
Delicate and meticulous,
None of them quite right
Until “Yes. That one.”
They go to the parlor together,
And she holds her hand, vice-like
A chained heart on her left bicep,
Showing the world her love.
Mother will not approve.
She never did anyway, though.
But sex is the only relationship that matters
We hold hands and press lips together,
Wrap arms around one another.
When we’re happy we let out peals of laughter
When we’re sad, saltwater comes out of our eyes
When we’re angry, our throats feel mucusy
And we can be all of those things in the space of an hour.
They say that sex is what makes us human,
But there are thousands of reproductive species proving that wrong.
Love and sex are not unique to humans
Birds do it, bees do it,
Jellyfish do it
But we harnessed lightning.
Us! Human beings,
Endless innovators, musicians, scientists, creators.
Nowhere in particular, but forging ever onwards.
Indomitable. Indomitable!
***
I might post more of these in the future, because I really do have a lot of old poems that I still think are pretty good. Some are more serious, like this one, and others are a little more on the silly side.
-6&7
Beautiful. :)
4893288
Thank you!