by Ainne Frances dela Cruz
In dark girls I see your skin. The lines of veins delicately whispering on the underside of your arms. The graceful motion of your fingers, how you always seemed on air, entrapped with wings; you who only had to rise to fly.
I, in another time, I see you. Dark of night, and dead weights, as everything must be to your ancient body. Yet, I love this of you. Even the headiness of the scent of entrails rushing after you, slapping on my hair, and I am left, matted and bloodied. And my heart left matted and bloodied.
I see now, you wanted to eat my heart. Dark blood pulsing through arteries. Transparency? Doesn’t my skin scream my love? Yes, my heart is yours. You only had to ask.
Do you remember Chinese water torture? One drop a minute to a prisoner would seem like an eternity of waiting for the deluge. And this, your wings rushing through light, beating through my ears like bats, high-pitched, tortures me. Wanting to get through your skin, carried away on your nails. Wanting to be you, dark as flight, as flight is, to one land-bound.
I am bound to one who flits from transparency, to a land opaque, where feelings must darken, and become murky. From water to blood, from oxygen to air so thin and pure, I have trouble breathing. But this is what we come to in the end, isn’t it? You have clutched me so tightly that I can let go and fall, but always find myself in your talons. The nails curved inwardly, my stomach heaves.
To become one, to be so close that the skin you hold is my skin, that when I look through the dark, I can see you. To hold me as if I was in you, your skin, your blood, my blood, one. This is what you do best, isn’t it? Touch things about to vanish. In your eyes I see myself. Will you see me always this way? Lips stained with your blood, fingers gripping your wings.
Do you want to fly? you asked. I nodded. Then close your eyes. The first bite, the first tear at my skin does feel like weightlessness. Levitation, blood escaping from me, finally free, skin to skin, and body to body. No longer heavy. You carried me forever. You don’t have to do so now.
I can fly.
Paper Monster Press Dream Pop Issue
Copyright ©:
2011
A few random poems:
- Николай Гумилев – За стенами старого аббатства
- Noe more unto my thoughts appeare by Sidney Godolphin
- October Journey by Margaret Walker
- Easter Morning poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владислав Ходасевич – Окна во двор
- The Leädy’s Tower by William Barnes
- Prison Song
- Зинаида Александрова – Зимняя песенка
- Gentle Heart, Indulge Thy Dreaming by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- East Idioms (1): A Fable by Mike Yuan
- Recantation by Sylvia Plath
- Николай Тихонов – Баллада о гвоздях
- Absence: A Farewell Ode On Quitting School For Jesus College by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Robert Burns: The Minstrel At Lincluden:
- I am only the house of your beloved by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Яков Полонский – Цветок
- Яков Полонский – Чтобы песня моя разлилась как поток
- Яков Полонский – Чайка
- Яков Полонский – Братья
- Яков Полонский – Блажен озлобленный поэт
- Яков Полонский – Белая ночь
- Яков Полонский – А. Н. Майкову (ответ на стихи его: Полонский! Суждено опять судьбою злою)
- Яков Полонский – Последний вздох
- Яков Полонский – После праздника
- Яков Полонский – Полонский здесь не без привета
- Яков Полонский – Поэт и гражданин, он призван был учить
- Яков Полонский – Подойди ко мне, старушка
- Яков Полонский – Поцелуй
- Яков Полонский – По горам две хмурых тучи
- Яков Полонский – Письмо
- Яков Полонский – Песня циганки
- Яков Полонский – Памяти В. М. Гаршина
- Яков Полонский – Памяти С. Я. Надсона
- Яков Полонский – Откуда
- Яков Полонский – Орел и голубка
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works