Monday, November 09, 2009

Egg White
for Nsakala Emmanuel

i.
milk-white girl has bewitched me with her magic
how she is able to dance so amazingly
is a mystery--utterly delicious

beauty of it, of this video, unbearable

one I favor most of the many I love
of dr. Sakis and his sexy sexy dancing girls

ii.
what electric wind, in her little red skirt,
to intoxicate me, like red wine in a bottle
she out pours freely, so freely, so much,
the glass overflows

she spills some of her but I lap her up
lick her up, lick her down


lick her down gently

iii.
able to electrocute me when she winds
I wish she would, I'd die happy

milk-white girl in her red skirt,
could shake every penny
out of my piggy bank

iv.
milk-white girl to make milkshake with

egg yolk, egg white to mix in, to make music
to make love last, to make love strong

milk-white girl I can drink always
I can drink all of


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
9:11 p.m. 09.11.09

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Jack Up the Bean Stalk
for M.N.W.

ever-ready battery, ever-ready love
ever ready for what she has to allow, to give, to live with

she paid the check, is she liberated
we could go far, could grow like a bean stalk
for Jack to go up, giant to come down

but Jack has his gold, has an axe
what if he were a son of mine, son of hers

we’d have to spank him, scold him

if I hold her too closely I know Jack with his axe
with all his mischief, would come creeping forth
and the giant, poor man, would come tumbling down


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2000
2:01 a.m. 01.14.00
What’s Shared What’s Not
for Adam Zagajewski

with bottle, with the water in it, a relationship
however sick, able to kiss it, suck at it

not denied privacy, intimacy
a bottle, a poet unwell, reading in public

a podium, a microphone, his bottle of water
makes his presentation possible

Zagajewski, grateful for this relationship
with bottle,
with water contained in it

so inexpensive when compared with
what it makes possible

Adam, able to read, we able to hear poetry
be transformed by it

how intimate, poet, the bottle, the water he sips


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
2:11 a.m. 08.11.09
In the Wind A Door
for Zina P. Albury

will or have already
yanked open the door to poetry before her

a wall she’d have been passing along
a door she had not recognized
to a world of which she was utterly unaware
or had no interest in

now she will be fascinated,
surprised
to find it has to do with her
it is so much about her own life


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
1:30 a.m. 08.11.09
Sitting On My Hair
for Adam Zagajewski,
Lucie Brock-Broido & Derek Walcott

you set off, set on the blender
when all you want in it has been added

after milk or juice has been added
and let it wurr churn swirl
until it is all one consistent thickness

Walcott’s poetry is like this, is made like this
for some, hold your glasses


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
12:43 a.m. 08.11.09
Always As Happy As Hell To See Her
of Deanka Saunders

still unable to get her e-mail address
she has one now

now nearer to something,
nearer her, nearer home, nearer together or are we

I have her last name also now
but not her e-mail address

she was abrupt about it, about the fact
that her computer’s down

it will be down indefinitely, she told me
pointless providing me her address

she’d be unable to get at it, at anything I might provide

showed her my two new books with pretty covers
with their nice jackets

told her my poems of her will eventually be in books like these

she laughed then
more emotional than I’d ever seen her

used to her being sedate, so concentrated
upon cashing, collecting, giving change


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
12:10 a.m. 08.11.09

Saturday, November 07, 2009

In Love In Conflict
for M.N.W.

we could fuck
or we could kill each other with knives
we can come or we can bleed to death


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
11:50 p.m. 07.11.09

Friday, November 06, 2009

Wings of A Song
for Zina P. Albury

to sweeten your pot
love plots to have you

hand to hold you with
to rest upon you naked

how limited my resources are
how limited my life is
though love knows no bounds

enter when I knock
I'll enter when you knock

if I love you, if you love me,
we can cross this divide
can do what's impossible
if we love truly, like we say we do

don't want to love you later
want to love you now, I ache to, I must

we must not be separated
attached by a straw, share air, life, light

share swear words, cuss words
two copulating, fuck fuck fuck
unable to take it

I must draw you to me, through straw
must draw your picture in water, in snow
in fire, on earth and in the air

tell the world I love you,
let the world know you're mine
we're of a kind

unplug you like a tangerine
I'd have to peel you first
easy does it

easy to get your panties off
I struggle with bras, help me
too eager to wait

weight of you to lift to bed
but to fuck not to sleep

want you any way I can have you,
without delay, later is too late

waited too many nights already
worlds have come between us

time I came like lightning inside you
it's time thunder rolled

what are you afraid of
black cats, big dicks

used to wish mine was a foot long
and as thick as my neck

heads come out of a woman
why am I unable to shove my head in
look about, breathe air
how dark is it in there

I think of a cave of bats,
upside down, sleeping

enter with searchlight
and they stream out
thousands in a frenzy
upon wings, wild, flapping

what are you afraid of
loving, losing, living, dying
the death of those you love

are your parents alive still
both of mine have passed away
I never knew my grand parents

grandmother of seven,
do you have grand parents

I want to sweeten your tea
want you to sweeten my porridge

cornmeal is another meal I miss
I miss nothing though as I miss you

will twist some juices out of you
when I see you

I have a wrestling match planned
two naked lovers

the prize is cherry pie


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
2:01 p.m. 06.11.09
Rooster In A Hen House
for T.L.C.

it is purple, orange, sea-blue, ocean-blue, sky-blue
it is hairy, it smells like lunch

is this what you would disallow, my access, nose up in you
face in your panties, breathing you in, sniffing, smelling

self conscious about something, something to be embarrassed about
wanting to eat you, to have you, to know you, to fuck you

fuck you, I’ll have you the way I have mango, water melon,
musk melon or honey dew

go to the super market, go first to the fruit section
shapes and colors of all sizes in heaps

cantaloupes, tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers
fucking like this, in crisis,
in dish after dish

exercise, access, against what’s ambiguous in this world
you are specific, meal to have raw, like I have apples, plums

knife to peel with, dick I stiffen, open you with
do you stiffen it, make it stiff, you want it, have to have it

why do you deny what you desire, what's most desirable,
what's deepest

afraid of what is atavistic, afraid of being out of control

what ever happened to head aches you used to have
you had been having

that is where we left off, have you seen a physician,
could I be of assistance

tongue in your pussy possibly,
till you tell
you told me your name

be what you'd dream up, what you'd dream of
wet you, what you want, I'd give you

what I want I'll have, I'll take also

put aside your remote control



© Obediah Michael smith, 2009
9:20 a.m. 6.11.09

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Half of An Avocado Seed
for Beryl [R.I.P.]
& A.D. Hanna & their family

a great lady died today
our Governor General’s other half

how like a corned beef can
how like a can of corned beef
we are opened and eventually consumed

she was formidable and she was smart
she was courageous and she had heart

what a giant Sir Etienne was
I remember them clashing
like waves and rocks

remember the sparks, the fire works
the water splashing, the salt sea spray

issue was apartheid,
racist policies in South Africa

with what Sir Etienne wrote, she disagreed
she picketed the Tribune

she with others, wore placards
she’d not give in, she’d not back down

English woman, woman of justice
for struggle, for the disenfranchised
the disadvantaged around the globe
in every corner of the world

stood by her husband
in family life, in public life
building family, building nation
from the blue print

stood by A.D. Hanna
like Lady Pindling stood
by Oscar Pindling

she expired today
death, its dinner done
wipes its mouth, its hands

upon the flag she saw raised
she saw go up

this flag will fly at half-mast
will wave and she will wave
and we will wave

there are those of us
who will wave farewell to her
with eyes full of tears

from some, tears will be streaming
down

a few will scream
last chance to reach out to her
reach out for her
across time and where no time is

ii.
Lord help me to look to thee
for what no one in this world
can withhold from me

what no one in this world can allow
or can give me

for what only you can give
like life you gave

which only you can give
only you can take away
or sustain

iii.
to hear pang-a-lang
they throw stones through glass

children in uniforms
passing from and to school

stones through glass
are like musical instruments

bows across stringed instruments
we break silence with

there are voices, sounds,
a pitch so high, able to shatter glass

houses abandoned, these pink twins
their wooden porch pillars
their wooden doors, dark-green

their front windows, shattered glass

up until not long ago
clothes on lines, on these two front porches
in the teeth of pins
the wind would dry

no longer are these two houses
sight for sore eyes

black eyes after battle
these two houses, opposite the church
perched upon a hill, in the bend in the road
dark inside

no one residing or can reside
within a building with windows
with shattered glass

children with stones,
out to make drama, to make mischief
out to make music
on their way home


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
Written between 12 noon
and 2:25 p.m. on Thursday,
November 5, 2009
Comic Strip
for Harold Munnings

Asterix for you to read
like that box, that tin of things
belonging to Dominique Bretodeau

stumbled upon in “Amélie”
stumbled upon the owner
after searching high and searching low

baked chicken he loved, ate whole by himself,
ripping it apart, clawing at it
with his fingers,
would make his mouth water

how he wept upon discovering
his tin box full of things
accumulated when he was a boy

marbles and memories, joy he could not contain
himself he could not contain

Asterix Comic Books, a stack of these
for a man, a medical doctor now
for his eyes to wander over once again

what cities, what streets within his mind
would his feet travel

what roundabouts would he run about


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
1: 37 p.m. 01.11.09
Sides of the Moon
for R.W.

how close the patient is to the impatient
I like a fool was unaware

how close the patient is to the physician
and must be
if healing in a needle, in a nurse’s hand
is to arrive

needle in an arm, in a backside
a little pain and then relief

was I not wise not to have known
how near love was to what looked otherwise

love was wearing a mask, a face screwed up

afraid, I masked that too
with my own impatience and I fled
was I fearing had I not I’d have bled

friends we are or have become
I can’t or I can hardly believe

I so glad for you, for us
what’s in between
reminds me of those snaps
which, during childhood
I used to love

two biscuits, between them
marshmallow or some custard
or some cream

what a queen of a friend you are
how sweet you are

that night I thought you bitter
wish I were able to go back
drink it till the jar containing it
was dry


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
4:20 p.m. 04.11.09
Wuyong
for Jia Zhangke & Bryan Boddy

next best thing to being there
a movie on a movie screen

what rout to take to get to these places
no concern of mine

the roads, plane tickets,
train stations, bus stations

from place to place and I am there

light of these places, the light in my eyes
dim or mute or bright
I’m there, I see, I feel, I hear

next best thing to being there
movies on a movie screen

easy as a switch, a click,
plug to plug in, to shove in
and I’m in business, in Beijing

in whatever place, wherever upon the planet
in deep water or deep in space


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
5:39 p.m. 04.11.09

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Brandy Wine
for M.S.

time to lie down with memories
of you and me


as time flees, as it fleets away
memories of us two remain

these I cherish, I savor
these deeds in a dish, I eat over again

cherries on stems still
I put in my mouth and pull

do you feel it too
when I eat us
when I eat
you



© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
2:02 p.m. 01.11.09

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Chippingham House
for L.M.M.

i.
things she’d touch, she’d let touch her
she’d want to touch and have touch her
along with me, I’d not want to let touch me

what she’d want me to be an assortment of,
assorted with, I’d not be able to permit or admit

never cared to admit into my life her family
with which, with whom she is so intimate

that is it, unable to fit, not wanting to wear
the outfit she’d want to outfit me in
were we to marry

ii.
incongruous cultures, hers and mine

who the members of her family are
who the members of mine

every member of mine independent
space of their own

hers in herds, in packs
reliant upon each other,
would lie upon each other

great big house all to myself
I share with paintings, books
with what I write

thought she wanted a house to get away
want a house to take along
who’s well and who’s ill
who’s bad and who’s good
who could and who can’t

her house has always been a home
old folks home, Randfurley Home

her dad came home to die and did
her mom followed
together over about 12 years

inserted these in our affair
superimposed them upon the family
we were attempting to be, attempting
to build


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
Written between 5:55 p.m.
and 6:39 p.m. Friday,
October 30th 2009
Mathematician
for Rev. Charles Saunders

walking man, walking home, making triangles

unmaking one to make another and another
unmindful of these

on his mind a cup of tea, a meal to make
can hardly wait to be in his kitchen
to turn lights on

exquisite triangles he makes and throws away
without a thought

his thoughts upon hot tea, hot bread
to slice, to butter

he wishes he had avocado
he had a week or so ago to slice, to add
unable to afford tomatoes, $2.69 a pound

in the fridge, in a box, what’s left of rice
he had for lunch

some of this, some of that to add up
to make supper

in what mathematical shapes
will he prepare a meal

what equations will he make
of what he fixes, what he eats
adding and subtracting

eating, defecating, breathing in, out
heart beat quickening, walking more quickly
anticipating tea, something to eat


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
9:29 p.m. 30.10.09