Lizards & Other Lovers
a poems for Victoria Sarne,
inspired by reading her poems,
“An Absence of Lizards,”
“Post Mortem” and “Listen,”
from My Soul Sings
Even When I Weep

i.
dare to live with nothing more
than a lizard's tail to hang onto

when that pops, where do you land
you fall into blue ocean
or against the sky

unable to fly when love ends
and you are no angel
and you have no wings

lizard with broken tail to hang on to
to hang out with

and a pencil, lead of which
you hope would not break
like your heart has

before your poem ends
your song rain

ii.
what would it be like
two skeletons having intercourse
refusing to let love end
when they die

without the cushion flesh provides
bony music clacking
clicking upon contact

ribcage through ribcage
fingers interlocking
knocking up against each other
even if they crack up

even if these two
who are no more
break into bits

or gently, carefully,
to be able to return
to their separate jewelry boxes

to emerge again, to meet again
to love again and again

iii.
she picks her voice out of words
the public abuses, misuses

out of garbage, words garbled
she picks up, picks out

multicolored threads
dyed with blood, with tears, with dread

that's her voice, telling past, present
of things to come

if words have power still
to create as well as they relate


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
2:29 p.m. 02.04.07