Whip Wipe Weep
for N.T-B.
i
I break out in song when I see you
like James Brown, in a cold sweat
I break out in song
when you’re on my mind
like someone with an allergy
might break out
when they eat a tomato
or olives
or all of it or some of it
I break out in song over you
all the time, unable to help it
ii
like a kettle, always about
to shoot steam, spout steam, sing
so very easily you’re able
to trigger me off
trigger off a song
offer songs to me
when I might otherwise weep
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
5:24 p.m. 17.09.08
Out of Tin Out of Shape
for the shape of my soul, I pray,
oh God
for its roundness, for its wholeness
that it does not wobble
like a warped bicycle rim
my soul being all I have to ride on
all I have to go on
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
5:33 p.m. 29.09.08
Meryll
is how dark you are for some a negative
it is joy to me and life to me inviting to me
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
12:55 a.m. 23.09.08
To Contain Us
for Sonia Williams
get at what's deep down
what's dark and demonic
at what's divine and wine-like
light passes through wine
and all the grapes red or purple
your pussy a plum I could bite into
I could devour slowly
devour me in it, grind me down good
make crystals of my sugar cane
my desire is that there are no barriers between us
just your locks to be knotted up in
cheetahs in a forest, chattering chimpanzees swinging
you and I back in our African Eden
powerful is what, is how you make me feel
and the world, when with you, is once again virgin
you know the waterfalls
how they splash, how they roar over rocks
elements of nature rather than citizens
stuck in society, with passports and addresses
I break free when I see you, with you on my mind
when we make love, if we ever do
how breathless I'd be, you'd be
but what athletes we are
we'll wear each other down like waves on a beach
relentlessly pounding, surging
how submissively though
a wave flows back, after it is spent
want to spent the dollar I am on only you
like a foolish child at a fair
might buy ice cream or just candies
with all he has to spend
nothing left for hot dogs or Popsicle or popcorn
what I'm unable to afford of you
you'd have to give me for free
you'll have to give me freely
giggling woman-girl, how I wish I had you
to hug this instant, I’d rip your clothes off
look at you naked, examine you closely
read your history, listen to the story
your body contains
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
3:53 p.m. 20.09.08
Vanessa
she's the sort of woman
I'd put in charge of my business
sort of woman I'd let run it
woman with whom I'd eagerly
enter into partnership
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
7:25 p.m. 12.09.08
What To Put Poems In
for Miss Karisma
poetry spills
when the cup of life gets knocked over
every time it does
so many tiny containers
like little colored cups of candle light
upon and about an altar
flickering, festive, at eventide, at even song
whenever life, what's inside, gets knocked over,
like holy communion wine,
I am there to sponge it up
sponge offered up to Christ on the cross
when he cried out, "I thirst!"
similarly I thirst for life
love life too much to see it waste or let it waste
make poems to put life in like those candles
in all those little colored glass containers
lit up like Christmas
St. Margaret's Church, unlit otherwise
incense swinging, sweetening a small boy's life
loving worship, learning how to
blessed be God, blessed be his holy name
blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man
blessed be Jesus Christ
in the most holy sacrament of the altar
in ecstasy in Church in worship
warship enters the harbor of a city far away
like a woman
what a vessel, intending/intended for destruction
want to be a vessel of life, of light
Christ was a love vessel
how love leaked out when he was tacked up
as full of holes as a sweet milk tin
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
6:05 p.m. 15.09.08
Heaven Scent
of J.A.
pale as she is, her nose in the air,
we could be friends
she is precious, comprised of gems
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
2:01 p.m. 12.09.08
Without Coffee Spoons
for Jonovia Reckley
unbearable blaze of light, of life
when a breeze blows across a fire
brightens the flames
the lick and lap like dog or cat
when a woman’s eyes light up
what’s going on within her
heart beating harder, quicker
pumping faster,
car screeching round a bend
one and then another
is she living recklessly
when she gets like that, like this
ever so subtle the change
but the horses out the gate
running, galloping
money on the line, bets placed
people in throngs, shouting
for horses they wish to win
ecstatic, they themselves riding
what’s going on in a woman
when her eyes blaze
what thoughts upon her mind
bit of intercourse she is willing to allow
able to engage in in public, in secret
little bit of lovemaking in a tea cup
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
7:23 p.m. 02.09.08
Reunited Us
for N.T-B.
should I hold on or shoot
empty of you or empty out you
toying with what's emotional
with what balances
horses want to run and run they will
run they must
around through my veins and arteries
back to my heart
where the stuff of love starts
how I get like dis I don't know
unable to help it
write anyting she said
how wrong she was
where have my emotions not run
run away with this heart of mine
with heart and mind
I so confuddle up
so tangle up
so do up
physician to thank for her presence here
home to her is home to me, to us
steal her all away or just a bit at a time
just a sip at a time
want to swill her down and spill some
want to have to lick what spills
off her and off me
too precious to waste
what she'd do to me
when she shifts from partitions up
to drawn curtains
woman I love: I'm in love
might as well state it, confess it
from the water tower, atop the sixty-six steps
t-shirt to say I'm hers
kite to hice with her name on it
I crazy bout her, I serious
I know so many others are also
I see them whispering,
I see them embrace her
and boy do I boil
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
2:16 a.m. 11.09.08
Aim Shoot
hey
you make me hard, keep me hard
so long and for so long
are you aware what you stir
what occurs, thoughts I have
how I cry out, what I cry out
plead your name, ask for mercy
so merciless, my sweetness
i i i I exclaim, you pinch a nerve
nerves no one else can locate
you know where these are
witch magic, which magic, what skills
want you to know what I hide
want you inside
where you were, where you are
never left, never could
did you wish to
dish for Jell-O, ice cream, dish for you
tasted you, addicted since, intoxicated
one of a few vices
I don't want to part with
so long apart
what sustains it, keeps it strong
what mystery
maybe because forbidden
why it grips as it does
we'd not danced in ages
though dancing ever since
never stopped
you’re the fire in my blood
boiling sugar cane to make molasses
I distill you, I make rum
rum drips, runs
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
3:57 p.m. 09.09.08
