Saturday, January 21, 2012

One Day
Another Night

for M.L.R.

we would pass now
like strangers, she and I

just members of the crowds
boarding or disembarking the trains

entering or leaving one metro station
or another or the other

we have faded again into the crowds

into being strangers again

after our episodes in bed

we were strangers then too

I, like a paying customer
she like a professional

providing a service, expertly
expertly providing a service

I thought it was by love inspired
but I do not know now
what it was inspired by

bye bye to crying eyes
bye bye, black bird

black cock, erect neck
cococarooco

dividing the day and the night
dividing day from night

we were never not strangers
never ever friends

though I thought we were gift,
bestowed without delay
or without much delay,
by heaven

heaven,
it seems, has taken its gift back
our contact

not connected in bed,
in intimacy, not connected
holding hands as we used to,

going about Mexico City,
kissing the way lovers kiss


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
7:29 p.m. 20.01.12
Another Round of Hearts
for T.L.A.

would you mind
if I fell in love with you again

I was once
that I can confess

was until I was pushed away
until our conflict

until it was clear
that it was not appreciated

my heart, beating,
offered to you whole
like a water melon

heart,
meal you had no appetite for
insulted it, insulted me

my precious offer, unappreciated

no, it was not- it was never friendship
I was after, I was cultivating

damn the difference of our ages
it was love I was after –
love I was into

want to be into you like that again
after a time of separation
after our time apart

after an affair I was into
that is very likely over now

I am ready to return home
to Limón, to Costa Rica

to the prettiest girl upon the planet
prettiest girl
on God's green earth

an affair she was having- was into
to guard it, you had to- you chose to
shove me away, shoo me away
like flies - a nuisance, annoying you

what will it be this time around
welcome or farewell or go away
don't bother me

want another round of hearts
thrown back and forth to catch

laughing, chasing about, running
having fun

but we must not let them drop
must not let your heart or my heart
hit the ground, the pavement

must not let them- get them-
let them get bruised up
covered with dirt and sand

must hold them safe in two hands

what ups and downs, already,
we've survived -
our affair has a history

devoted to you once
want to be devoted, similarly,
once again

what will I, this time,
be subjected to
what will I subject you to

close enough again,
to watch each other grow
what will we undergo

need to redefine what motivates
what we share

do not want friendship
want to be captain-
want to run the ship
sail the ship

cabin upon it for you and me
to frolic

alcoholics in the ballroom
well dressed, drunk
and dancing waltz

walls for our laughter
to ring off

verbs to reverberate
to ring out

parts of speech
to take apart

you to disassemble
and to reassemble


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
7:16 a.m. 20.01.12
Crushed Ice
for M.L.R.

i.
could we have
walking together back
joined like that

our steps, our hands
your right, my left

ink left to muddy pages with
paper to talk to, to talk with

we used to converse as best we could
as best we could was good enough
was all the world

we used to be boy and girl
were planning to be man and wife
maybe all too fast

two hearts, together beating,
have come apart

how it was that we were joined as we were
while we were, was like a fairy tale

how it commenced and that it did
and that it sustained, a mystery

a gift from somewhere lofty
from up above, from on high

why has heaven revoked us
taken back what was granted

what did I- did you or did we do
to forfeit such a treat

what harsh word or words
to cause us to come crashing back
into this harsh world

what patience lacking
to cause us to be pulled apart

when we were like ice skating partners
connected, helping, lifting
as we twirled, turned

our partnership is what I miss

that I could allow you
or that you could allow me
to come crashing down to ice

is so without mercy, without care
is so very cold
after having been so enormously warm

hot hot hot worried me a little
I was concerned about burning out
all too readily, all too soon

it was walking hand-in-hand
kisses in public that was best
that thrilled me most

not under-done or over-done
under-cooked or over-cooked

that tenderness was best
it is the tenderness I miss
and want back, that bliss
that connection, that connected

that though is but one side of you
one side of me as well, I imagine

there is as well
the woman of self-defense
woman trained in martial arts

the adversarial side
needing an opponent
made me one

needed me it seemed
in opposition
instead of on her side

I thought God was on our side
thought he had ordained
that we be joined

ii.
how could it have been just a fling
a thing to use
and then to fling away
at the end of the day

iii.
we might have allowed
too many people into-
to enter what was ours
what was too new for all the world

their trampling feet,
their peeping eyes, their curiosity

our affair, too soon mixed
with the affairs of this world

delicate as it was
like a litter of kittens
lacking fur, eyes not open

needing to be licked,

needing to be shrouded,
veiled from the eyes of all the world

we should not have announced
to all the world, what our plans were

what it was that we had discovered:
gold and frankincense and myrrh

we should not have told Herod
where the young child was

wrapped in swaddling cloth
lying in a manger


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
Written between 1:15 p.m.
on Thursday, January 19
and 2:55 a.m. on Friday,
January 20, 2012

Friday, January 20, 2012

Little Boy Blew
for Sergio, Mariana & M.L.R.

all the air, all of a sudden
released again into the atmosphere

little boy's blue balloon

he was hitting up and keeping up
determined not to let touch the ground

does end upon the ground

is blown away, ahead of him
with him following swiftly

into the neighbor's yard

neighbors I am staying with
with whom I've stayed overnight

little boy's blue balloon

blows against a small flowering plant
and goes, pop

what was in it

suddenly mixes with what was without

what was a toy, a play-thing,

is a play-thing no more

a piece of rubber,
boy with his sister, in the road
babbling away in Spanish,
has no more use for

no use for what he cannot again

blow up, fill with air

in the early morning, on the beach

a day ago, I was asked,
at the point of her wanting penetration

wanting me to enter her, had I rubbers

"latex" is the word she used
I hadn't

we'd gone as far as we could go

as far as we dared go and turned back

climbed down from the great height

that we had gotten to

we'd have had no-longer-useful rubber

we'd have afterwards, most likely,
disposed of rubber in the sand
on the beach, full of little tadpoles

a generation of my offspring

Trojan warriors, dying, perishing
their tails whipping, lashing

we never got to that


what was left

of the little boy's blue balloon
he did not pick up

with his sister,

with her amber-colored balloon
fortunately still in tact,

they ran away, shrouded in

the noise they made


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2011

7:44 a.m. 04.11.11

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Blue Is My World
for M.L.R.

I do not feel lovely
how can she love me

what does she sense
what does she see

I'd put off love making
I'd push her away
until I can assemble
all the pieces in place
some semblance of enticing

she knows not
with what devils I wrestle
I must pin down

heads of dragons I must cut off
to get into bed with her

to be intimate- to copulate
like we at times have
like we sometimes do

not automatic to feel attractive
with my body, its systems,
acting up, its systems backfiring

digestion, circulation,
defecation, excretion
all of these questionable

I must yet try to master them
put what misbehaves to sleep
or try to - she hasn't a clue
what I must do- must undergo

everything I eat
almost immediately after
or not long after, I have to do do
these in the way of romance

I had been jogging on the spot
morning and evening
to get on top- to stay on top of things

now my right foot has given out
delicate bones in this foot,
I seem to have fractured,
one or several

it hurts to walk, I hop instead

some film with some injured soldier
comes to mind

"Ryan's Daughter" it is for certain
British officer on the hill top
hopping, moving swiftly

Ryan's daughter, in white night gown
having left her husband's bed
hurries to this officer
she has fallen in love with

it is infirmity, this image
of him hopping, part of the romance
part of his heroism

he had been wounded, injured
while fighting- while at war
and because of it was decorated

my injury occurring
running on the spot, indoors
trying to stay well, attempting
to boost my immune system
and this calamity

my love and I, at present
not getting along-

affair on the rocks
over a bottle of Noche Buena beer
she wanted a second bottle of

I put my foot down
I delivered a sermon
on the need to deny ourselves

give the extra you'd spend
on luxuries like beer to the poor

with their hands out
whom you usually pass by
or shoo away

living in her house
sleeping in her bed
and I have suddenly become
persona non grata

will this state that we're in lift
or will I have
to vacate these premises
for dignity's sake

guest in a house
here in Mexico City
and I feel humiliated, unappreciated

what input am I allowed

modern day woman
with little use
for the leadership of a man

want to have their own way
go their own way

your money to spin, to spend
your cock to gyrate on
but they have their own ideas

no more than contempt
for the ideas of men

last night I was made to feel
like that beautiful
emasculated man
in "Blue," with Juliette Binoche


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
9:38 p.m. 19.12.11
Along Came Song
for M.L.R.

steps that were designed
by the divine or by the devil

tracks that were laid
by hands from hell
or hands from heaven

which am I making- which am I on

what existed between us initially
who orchestrated it
who connected us

was it of God or of the devil
what I thought was bliss

asked this one and that one
to pray for us, to pray for it

what was I asking God to bless
to add whip cream of heaven to

asking angels in heaven
to lift up- to lift us- to approve

light of heaven,
invited to shine in on it
and could it withstand this added
this exposure, such revelation

evil doings
or what was not in keeping
with what heaven, the Gospels
and Christ intended

woman seeking after pleasure
assume she could
make her own rules
could have her private pursuits

anything she liked-
anyway she liked it
whenever she wanted

what The Book says, no matter
what the guide says
of no importance, of no consequence

but The Book does matter
as much today as it ever did

book of life is the book for life
forever

do not understand
her not appreciating all I contributed

seems she still does not appreciate
what my time costs

I could have been elsewhere
in service otherwise and to others

it seems she never understood
whose I was, to whom I belonged
or to whom I belong

she seemed to think me flimsy
morally, materially, otherwise

some playmate, some play thing
some paperweight

does she know how powerful
is the family- are the friends I have

does she know
that I must be their shining star

this hour and every hour
unable to resort
to just any lowness
to what is lowdown
to just any mess

after all the discipline,
the suffering, the sacrifices,
she expects me
to lie down in sin and get up
and go on and not care

pleasures that are not blessed
eat food over which grace
has not been said

I have been abandoned, repudiated
for having principles
for taking the high road
rather than the low road

wanted- and I want still
what was pure between us
want her to know that
you cannot have whatever
do whatever without having
to suffer- without having
to face the consequences

what you do in secret
shall certainly end up in the open
end up in the light

what is covered by night,
sure to end exposed by-
exposed in daylight

just another man she met and went with
all that I am supposed to be
what she attempts to reduce me to

after all the commitments we had made

after the depths to which we went

after the depths of what I thought
we had invested

what I wanted us to mean
thought we meant
mutually

was I meaning one thing
meaning one way and she
was meaning her own thing
some other way, entirely

attached,
would we have forever been
pulling in opposite directions

she pulling from my pocket
pulling the guts inside me out

what is or was within me
inside me coiled,
extending more and more

like a fish on a line
big fish on her line to bring in
or to relinquish

attached and in pain
she is attached to me too
it costs me, it must cost her also

for both of us, the pleasure
and the pain - for both of us
the consequences
for the incorrect sequence
of what was shared

take a toy apart- a car apart
anything apart- there is
this to put back and then that

however painstaking
is the order we must observe

must be followed if we want
what we are assembling
or reassembling to work, to run

we could not- we cannot
put ourselves together
any-kind-a-how, any-kind-a-way
and expect to function

to be right together
right for each other
or to make right, to make better
a little bit 

of all the wrong in this world

I do not- did not want
to be added to- or to be more of
what is messed up

it is precisely why I write
to put- to make something
run as it should

like a river rather than like blood
off a sidewalk, onto the side
of the road when someone
is stabbed or shot

am I to go- are we to go
the way of the world

should we not be
on our way to heaven
on the wings of doves


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
11:25 a.m. 18.01.12

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Game of Chance
for M.L.R.

she wants to be able
to push men about

as if they were light
or light to lift

as if they were all
just puppies on strings
to pull, to yank

to caress sometimes
kick sometimes
kiss sometimes

she wants a man
to have, to hold
when it´s cold

to enfold, to enfold her
when she feels like it
to refuse
when she does not
feel like it

my God,
I certainly could not abide
being reduced
to a house guest
to a house mouse
to a house fly

when the week before
when the day before
we had been lovers

romance evaporated
just like that, in a flash

too fast occurring to be seen

what was responsible
for the status change

how did I come to be
stripped of all my badges
of the rank I had

without being decorated
like I had been
she expected me
to hang around

who was a general
reduced to a private

what a reshuffling
of a deck of cards


© Obediah Michael Smith
4:00 p.m. 16.01.12
When We Come
to A Fork In the Road
M.L.R.

don´t ask me to determine
where the pieces fall
how the pieces fit
of what used to be
our relationship

let them fall where they may
fit how they may or not fit
at the end of the year
at the end of the day

when the way ends or divides
so be it

if we must proceed
along separate ways
like together arriving
at a fork in the road
and dividing like the road divides

not at all long ago
her thighs used to open
used to divide
like a fork in the road

us two to come and to go together


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
6:25 a.m. 16.01.12

Monday, January 16, 2012

Go or Stay or Go Astray
for M.L.R.

what will you have me do or be
oh Lord, oh Saviour

will you have me go or stay

what way will you have me turn
towards or away from this woman

with her opposite sides
with her inside out
with her back to front to face

from day to day, from time to time

my own flip-flopping
like a fish on a deck

like a fisherman with a club

for a fish on deck, pitching, wishing
it were back in the sea,
swimming away


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2011
4:11 a.m. 19.12.11
Honey & Vinegar
for M.L.R.

she will forever be
shifting back and forth
lika a lunatic

between north and south

between east and west

her needle banging back and forth

between heaven and hell
between salvation and damnation

what damn nation

is this we're living in

we've fallen into


out of bliss


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2011
4:02 a.m. 19.12.11
Ecclesiastes
for M.L.R.

don't hold back
what is unhappy
what is happening or has happened
that you do not like

with time, let it run, let it fly, let it slide
allow it to glide away with the day

no need linger in dirty bath water
after you have used it
after you have washed off

let it out, let it circle and swirl
let it go down the drain

always a fresh day with fresh hours in it
always a fresh hour with fresh minutes in it
always a fresh minutes with fresh seconds in it

let go of what's spent- of what's lost

more and more life and opportunities
arriving without end

more life, more days, more nights to spend


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
10:26 p.m. 17.12.11
In or End the Life Within
for M.L.R.

he does not drink
he does not smoke

what else then does he-
is he going to fill his life with

they wonder, want to know

we all have a grave
to fill with our bodies, sooner or later

how desperate some of us seem to done-
to spend the life within us

desperate to end the life we're in


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2011
3:15 a.m. 17.12.11
Circle Ends
for M.L.R.

all of them in a circle
sucking on-
sucking down cigarettes

Maya, my wife-to-be, among them

trying to done time
as my mother used to say

but they will be done
before time is done
they will end before time ends

their time will end
before time's time comes

they are making merry
or they think they are

people's methods of making merry
usually make me sad

angels weep
not glad



© Obediah Michael Smith, 2011
3:10 a.m. 17.12.11
Furry Lewis Blues
for M.L.R.

shy little kitten
she keeps between her legs

asleep until I arouse her
until I wake her up

to turn over and about
to go out to play
until exhausted,
panting,
wet


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2011
12:03 p.m. 18.12.11

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Roll of Thunder Roll of Dice

want to shit on-
want to sit on my own toilet seat

seat at home, occupied by only me

my toilet seat, my library seat
there where I sit to read
books I check out

hours sometimes upon
what is by some, for some reason,
called a throne

am I sad here-
have I become sad here
after a fling of happiness- a toss

after one, I won
after another, I loss

is my life to be based upon
the toss of dice

like the economy of The Bahamas
must I add my love life,
my love nights, my lovely days

I must accept me
no matter who does not

myself to live with
not for a month,
not for a few weeks

I have myself to live with
every second on my life
as long as life shall last

this the gift
that heaven has bestowed

must love me before anyone can
long after whoever cannot
stops

I must buy lotion for my hands
how rough they look
how awful they feel

do I miss the elegance
the opulence
of Sol Kerzner’s Atlantis
on Paradis Island
in The Bahamas

there I'd use the toilet
and sit at times
for several hours

sit until
a book I'm reading is read

rest rooms as large
as a comfortable apartment

larger than what is
for some persons
an entire house

am I dreaming of home
longing for home
for Kemp Road

where I live in the house
in which I was conceived
in which I was born

uncomfortable street
that is at times though
like heaven on earth

when it rains
I am as if in a great big cage
enclosed in the bars
falling rain makes

about the house falling
off the four sides
of my house roof
off my house top

any window
out through which I look

I see the rain
wetting the leaves of trees

across the street
beneath the canopy
of the convenience store

school children
in their uniforms

young people
and not-so-young people
gather, wait until the rain,
falling, holds up

when it’s bright
in the sunlight,
the rain is a lot
of silver strands


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
10:42 a.m. 10.01.12

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Whom We Rub We Bruise
for M.L.R.

thin as skin
skin as thin as a frog´s skin

thin-skinned
barrier too insubstantive
to make much difference

offended by everything
by nothing at all

why as defensive-
as easily offended
as she is

is she also aware
of how often
of how constantly
she offends

without knowing
or without caring
or without caring too much
or without caring enough
that she offends

but out of proportion blows
what wrong is done her

even if done inadvertently


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
12:20 a.m. 14.01.12
A Poem Written
In A Park I Found
for M.L.R.

in an instant
it was as if
I was not pretty anymore

no longer lovable
no longer lovely

rug drawn out from underfoot
from under me

should I have been, in the first place
dependent upon her
to give me a positive view of myself

emphasizing though a part of me
that I do not wish emphasized

how well I can or cannot fuck
and how frequently

not a test I wish to pass
or not to pass

wanted an affair based upon
my ability to love her
her ability to love me

ability to stick it out
through thick and through thin

whatever came or comes
hell or high water

she wanted sex to rely on
like a drug

wanted this added
to the other substances
she abuses
cigarettes and alcohol

did not like my calling her back
to the subtler pleasures

the small joys
from which she feels
she has long ago graduated

things I suppose
she considers play-play
child´s play, childish
some children´s affairs

this is what happens
when innocence is lost
or has been tossed aside
or tossed away

stuff I clutch
like I clutch my pen

in a grip in my hand
innocence as important to me

bun containing cheese
in the hollow inside
I bought one of

I should have purchased
2 or 3 or 4 or more

want to be drunk
on what is good for me
on who is good for me

thought I was good for her
thought she was good for me

I still do- I do still

here in Mexico City still
attached to it

in love with her, in love with it
with this city, her city

this relationship
I´ve come to through her

our affair, attached to this affair
affair with place, with time
with space

am I displaced, displeased
am I out on the edge
am I out on a limb

am I in good hands
am I in God´s hands

Friday the thirteenth
what peace I feel

fifteen dollars for the moment
all that is left on my account
in Nassau, on New Providence
to draw off- to draw on- to draw from

Christ though, his Father
heaven and the Holy Spirit
have long ago assured us
that Grace is sufficient

promised to provide each day
what each day requires

only I must- we must
not be greedy

must be discerning
must recognize love
in all its guises

however great-big-grand,
however infinitesimal

without end prepared
to embrace and to swallow it

to be embraced
and to be swallowed by it

I need a lotion or cream
muey efficacious
for my rough hands

I must not fail to be lovely
when love comes along
when love comes around

always hovering near
as near as the light
as near as the dark
as near as the life within

I am without end
hemorrhaging poems

happy to have pages-
to have paper
to soak them up with


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
3:58 p.m. 13.01.12

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

You Better Move On
for Cedric Scott

moving on for me
is not just-like-that
is not as easy as pie

not when the sky
has fallen in upon a love affair

want to linger, assess it,
go back over every footstep

over what, just a day or so ago
was so full of promises

we had made such profound plans

all the plans, like plants, like palms
so soon uprooted

sky fallen in, roof fallen in
upon the dining room table

unashamed that I am crying and crying
that I am weeping still

that I am making poems of ink and tears
of a mixture of these

after you have invested
what you have invested
in the affair you're in
in love and marriage

would you be able, easily,
to up and move on, were you,
God forbid, today or tomorrow,
to split up

dare you say that my love is/was
less significant

because it has not
existed as long

because it has existed weeks
and yours has existed years

have I no right to want her back
to want to continue what we started
where we left off

have I no right to want to go back
to her neighborhood

I know though that our breakup
that our breaking up

is tied to the other men in her life
who have let her down

whom she, most likely,
has let down also
like she's let me down

thinking, in all these cases
it is- it was
the fault of her father,
two brothers, two X-husbands
now me

all these men to hate
who have hurt her
whom she has hurt

worse than she is aware


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
9:34 p.m. 10.01.12
In Mexico out in
or out of the Cold

somebody, not only you,
can feel like they have-
that they have bumped into destiny

into their destination
upon meeting you

awaiting someone- awaited event ,
occurring finally

not necessary that she belongs
to a circle of poets

circle of poets can turn out to be
a circle of witches,
circle of bad news

good news, someone new
to cross your path-
could cross your path
and can, with you,

go on to open- to make- to create
a path together that never was
across snow, maybe

you two in warm coats,
warm clothes, warm underclothes


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
10:07 p.m. 10.01.12

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

In careful Hands
of M.L.R.

able to pull the rug out
from under your feet
and without mercy, she does

not caring if you fall- if you fell
on your hip or on your teeth

this, when I used to think
she was
sweet sweet sweet


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
10:02 a.m. 10.01.12

Monday, January 09, 2012

Ten Weeks Long

in a very different
Mexico City now
from the one she and I shared

am I becoming angrier
as angry as she is

rhythm of life in this city
its demands, requiring
that you adapt, toughen up

am I being changed
having the city to face myself
head on, come what may

without her to go about with
hand-in-hand

without her to lead and to guide me
without her, like Moses,
to open the way, the ways,
the passages, the passage ways

without her to provide,
in addition, that narrow passage,
the candy of it, the candy that it is

or the wrapper that it is
to wrap, so very well,
the length of my hard, dark
chocolate

no longer entertaining
eyes, asses, shocked
at what they consider to be
difference that is extreme

let them look in delight or disgust
or whatever or however

I am abandoning
meeting their gaze, these gazes

abandoning trying to read
what this difference
of mine means

they are as different from me
as I am from them

let them process me
however they please

it is Monday
this is a new week
I must be strong


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
4:08 p.m. 09.01.12

Saturday, January 07, 2012

I Vow to Thee
for M.L.R.

you mean even if she lets me down

is this what you meant
when you insisted, implored me to-

how did you put it-
stand beside her
stand up for her

did you mean even if she let me down
or lets me down or lets me drop
as she has

longing, waiting, wondering
will she pick me up again

you mean that I should stand by her
stick by her, stand up for her
no matter what

stand by her, stand for her
even if she is against me
even if she is not for me
I must be for her

brave for her, there for her,
here for her

even if I´ve been thrown out
shut out, shoved out

I must, since I´ve taken her in
keep her in
even without reciprocity

one-sided affair, going about
upon one leg
stand up for her upon one leg

I wept just now to think of this
of words you said-
of this stipulation
on behalf of who was then
my wife to be
who was then to be my wife

not the first time that I have cried
recalling- bringing back to mind
your standing in on her behalf

I had been- have been-
thought I was being

true to this commitment
you invited, insisted upon

just did not realize
that I was being called
to stand up for Maya,
to stand with her

even if she turned against me
even if
the winds of our romance
shifted

this is a test
don´t know if even you meant
that I should be loyal still

loyal after what we were
or what I thought we were
was over

is this another phase
within our affair

certainly and fortunately
it is another phase
within my life

within her life

fortunately life does go on
life goes on in Mexico City

what of that affair though, our affair
where is it now- what is it now

what are we now
where are we now

what you whispered to me, in English
aside Maya possibly, still,
knows nothing of:

stand by her,
she is very important to us
as a poet, as a teacher,
as a mother, as a daughter
as as sister, as a friend

was like our marriage vows
exchanged, there on that sidewalk

in that neighbourhood
I miss and cherish
cherish and miss

not at all far from her front door
the bars across which, I had keys to
bunch of three she had cut for me

we were beginning to love each other
love between us
was beginning to deepen

adjustments to be made,
we were beginning to face
to confront, to contemplate

her spirit or mine, recalcitrant
stubborn, unwilling to budge
unwilling to move this way or that,
an inch or two

amazing that this call, it seems,
still stands, to stand by her

by whatever commitment it was
that we, at that point, had made

it was a rock
upon which we stood that day

it was solid indeed
it was love indeed
it was truth indeed

it´s me, it´s me, oh, Lord
we, oh, we, oh, Lord
standing in the need of prayer

me, oh, me, oh, Lord
in need of prayer
in the deed of prayer

romance by itself,
fickle, flimsy

needing the undergurding
of Agape to give it substance,
weight, import

to sustain it, to enable it
to sustain us, to bear us up

to hold together what is shifting
what is split, what needs,
miraculously, to be mended

like soles of shoes
holes through leather
needing to be fixed
needing to be placed
in a cobbler´s hands

what did I promise:

to stand by, sit by,
walk beside, run beside
lie beside, die beside her

these vows- these pledges
made in the church
that is all the world

in the church
that is without walls

in the church
that is creation
occurring again

we like the first two people
like that first couple
occurring again
created again

how naked she has left me
we were clothed in our love
in that alone

what is she wearing
without me- away from me

what web or world
is she whirling around in
is she being whirled around in

here I am, my axis is the ball point
of this Bick pen


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
11:54 p.m. 06.01.12
Peaches & Pears in a Can
for Willem F. Harding

no no no, not X, but Y, but why
but my girlfriend

we were engaged to be married

we still are
how do you reverse that in a week

what if she has left me with cream

to smear onto the head of my penis

an itch, however severe,

can be corrected

what cream is there to smear

onto- rub into the wound
when a heart breaks
when there is a broken heart

what of when

there are two broken hearts

blood pouring from them

in all the wrong places

want her back again

want her back to me

front and back

this way and that

on top of me

on top of her

in intercourse

in love
in Mexico City

Mexican woman

Bahamian man

peaches and pears in a can

to open, to add cream to
the syrup they're in

we used to be so fresh once

exist now only to reflect upon


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012

8:45 a.m. 06.01.12