the poetry knook :: the poetry of stephen m. james :: indianapolis, indiana » sweat https://www.tpkpoetry.com the poetry of stephen m. james Fri, 28 Mar 2014 01:04:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.3 Getting her off, his chest https://www.tpkpoetry.com/poetry/getting-her-off-his-chest/ https://www.tpkpoetry.com/poetry/getting-her-off-his-chest/#comments Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 He’s spent the hour deciding how to get her head to her pillow and off his chest where lay her silhouetted cheekbones, high and smooth, against his sternum rising slow. His eyes–breaths before closing–stay ajar to see his reason–her–to open: sweat with hair, her humid breath undulates love. He’s lost this hour, the first of twenty-four, in thought, recounts this day, ceremony, the vows, her muddy eyes now veiled in sleep, her arms, his, interwoved in figure eight. He grasps for pen and pad on nightstand out of reach to write his joy, his words: hopeful to not to wake his bride from needed rest.

]]> https://www.tpkpoetry.com/poetry/getting-her-off-his-chest/feed/ 0 Pupils’ pupils https://www.tpkpoetry.com/poetry/pupils-pupils/ https://www.tpkpoetry.com/poetry/pupils-pupils/#comments Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 It’s clean–like suburbia,
absent of dumpsters,
no scrubbing phone cords
or de-staining diskettes
like when she’s actually laying between the hotel cotton,
oh wait, we let the maids do that;
there’s sweat on the mouse
and saliva on the mouth to the hands to?

alone?
penetration turns to education, maybe artistry?
justifying pupils’ pupils in the camera;
what do thins lines draw?
locating the absent parents of a preteen wading in the hotel pool.

]]> https://www.tpkpoetry.com/poetry/pupils-pupils/feed/ 0