Close Apart
for D.B.A.

i.
afraid of ending up
like one sort of insect or another
in a taxidermist's collection

with a long needle passing through you
and into whatever is desired
for you to be stuck to
for you to adhere to

my dick through you
ending in the mattress of the bed

another woman in the collection of women
I'd have fucked right through,
affixed to a list- to my mattress

another woman to come in, to go in,
to come in again

when are you coming over
blouse over your head
panties to climb out of
pussy to bare

beer or wine or Gin
what should we have along with sexual intercourse

virgin to break open, to bark like jelly coconut
water in the shell to put to my head
to soak my bed or a bloody mattress instead

ii.
how contradictory
in spite of antipathy
I can hardly bear the signs, the sound
of her love

knowing it is there
however much she covers it up, disguises it
unable to prevent it
bursting through upon occasion

like sunlight in the morning
through cracks in a wooden building
through cracks where windows, where doors
do not fit or close properly

or in the woods, in the early morning
dew covered still, the sun
through limbs and leaves

unable to shut up or shut off or shut out
her love for me completely

now and then, it squeaks through
into my world, my eyes
and I witness what is difficult to withstand

especially because
this witness is alternated
with being kept in the dark

intoxicated by it because
not used to it

I thought
something had happened to you, she said
why I called her at school

like what, I asked, you mean like something bad
yes, she said

as if she'd forgotten
that he who watches over Israel
and watches over her
watches over me too


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2010
Written on Wednesday, October 13,
2010, between 2:15 p.m. & 3:22 p.m.