{"id":1949,"date":"2023-12-19T18:31:26","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T18:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/?p=1949"},"modified":"2023-12-19T19:56:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T19:56:21","slug":"ben","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/2023\/12\/19\/ben\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Ben<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

You say
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 you don\u2019t like poetry
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 don\u2019t want to hear it
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 just never got it
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and I swoon because
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 your air in my lungs
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 wants to thicken into words
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 birth verses composed
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 of our mingled spit
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 two tongues
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 that nose playfully in the rain
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 stanzas of falling sweat
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 strophes written with a single finger
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 on flesh not touched
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 not this way
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 not like this
For the motion of your quivering
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 toes by my ear
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is poetry
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the stillness of your
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 open lips
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is poetry
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the curve of your belly
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in the candlelight
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 under my hand
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is poetry
And maybe you don\u2019t like poetry
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 because you are poetry
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 iambic hips birthing
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 rhymes that spit so hard from you
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 they become gang bang graffiti
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 on my headboard
And the two syllables of your name
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I speak over and over
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 into candle sweetened air
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 are the alpha and omega
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 of what it means
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to be alive
Yes
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 love is only a word
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 it is the shortest poem ever written
But you say you don\u2019t like poetry
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 so I will let you stop
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 my tongue with yours
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 let my voice go hoarse
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 be content to rest
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in your silence
Just ask and I will gladly still my pen
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and never write
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 another verse with your name
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 but please oh please
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 just now just this once
\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0then never again
For tonight in this bed
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 at this late hour
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 as we move slowly
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 your rhythmic cadence
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 consonants sharp
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and vowels round
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 raw dangling syllables
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and stanzas of blood
You don\u2019t realize
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 that it is you
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 that has become the poet
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 you that speaks in cries
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 which crystallize and become
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 two primal words
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 whispered over and over
For if love is the shortest poem
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 then this is the one we will live by
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 your entreaty to me or to the gods
That simplest verse
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 uttered again and again by lovers
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 since we first found our voices
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the purest poetry and
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the most complete prayer<\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0don\u2019t stop
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 don\u2019t stop
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 don\u2019t stop<\/em><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(First published in The Legendary, 2009)<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/div>

\u00a0<\/div><\/div><\/section><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ben You say\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 you don\u2019t like poetry\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 don\u2019t want to hear it\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 just never got it\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and I swoon because\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 your air in my lungs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 wants to thicken into words\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 birth verses composed\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 of our mingled spit\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 two tongues\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 that nose playfully in the rain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 stanzas of falling sweat\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 strophes written with a single finger\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Ben”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poems","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1949"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2012,"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949\/revisions\/2012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wessmongojolley.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}