Canes

I've given up the poetry pen for awhile in favor of reading and writing fiction, but the poetry books still suck me in. I found this last night and it kind of fell into the erotic theme I've been exploring. It touches deep emotions and pulls them into the physical world. I suppose that's what we're striving for, what the best poetry does.

The Blind Leading the Blind

by Lisel Mueller

Take my hand. There are two of us in this cave.
The sound you hear is water; you will hear it forever.
The ground you walk on is rock. I have been here before.
People come here to be born, to discover, to kiss,
to dream, and to dig and to kill. Watch for the mud.
Summer blows in with scent of horses and roses;
fall with the sound of sound breaking; winter shoves
its empty sleeve down the dark of your throat.
You will learn toads from diamonds, the fist from the palm,
love from the sweat of love, falling from flying.
There are a thousand turnoffs, I have been here before.
Once I fell off a precipice. Once I found gold.
Once I stumbled on murder, the thin parts of a girl.
Walk on, keep walking, there are axes above us.
Watch for the occasional bits and bubbles of light--
birthdays for you, recognitions: yourself, another.
Watch for the mud. Listen for bells, for beggars.
Something with wings went crazy against my chest once.
There are two of us here. Touch me.

***

from Alive Together


It's funny, the effect this poem has on me. It's so good it makes me stop writing, I mean, there is the feeling, what's the point. But it also sends me down the path searching for what hasn't been said, for what I want to say.