National Poetry Month 2015
About Face
_____________
To see your face again
I stood still and thought of rain
thought of the way that it falls hard and racing to the needy earth
thought of how water holds memory like a speakable secret
thought of how the droplets begging to be set free
must be what we call thunder
thought of the joy in filling up to the brim
thought of the moment when tears spill
I thought lovingly of watching raindrops invade my Grandmother’s gardens
thought excitedly of how the turned up soil parts into bursts
thought jealously of how the bits of given ground reclaim their new order
in tiny closing pools with swallowed
gulping drinks
thought of those quarter-sized patches of newly wetted earth
and the way each one takes its’ time and closes a darkened circle
back onto itself just like in the blink of your eyes
yes
I see you now I see the press and close of your lashes
and how the brown of your eye is swallowed like a refreshing drink
yes
I see you now I see the way you open your eyes back to the world
how the whites are newly polished glass
and how each wetted and slippery round orb reclaims it’s searching
yes
I know the reddened rose-come to-Ruebenesque flush of your small, rounded cheek
as you find me delighted in your reemergence from the briefest slumber
and I know the feathered rupture of your smiling mouth
across the succulent rivulets of your pampered flesh and pearled grin
and I know that your brow is curling inwardly
that it rises and takes the angle of your forever unanswerable question
the one that gathers the valley of tea-cake brown flesh between your eyes into bunches
and flares your nostrils into the slightest breathless moment of wonder
I can tell you that your chin quivers just before you smile
that your breasts rise expectantly beneath every one of your blouses
that your curls unpin slowly from behind the tips of your ears
that your tongue passes over your teeth in a beautiful habit
that your lips press into themselves and emerge from that meeting in splendor
yes
I can see you now I see your face like raindrops falling landing smiling
…into place …from your sky-bursting laughter …your heaven of moments
I see your questions and wonders and how you want just one answer
how you want to know in the new heart that you have opened just for me
that when we leave this moment
will I remember that, yes…we can come back here…
anytime
Jas. Mardis
4/2015 (24aa)
About Face audio clip < CLICK FOR THE AUDIO>
Weighing Waiting
__________ _____
If you wait for me
the first time
before you see my smile up close
before you like the way
I tilt myself into
laughter
& sunlight
before you agree that there is a beautiful rhythm
in the tap and scuffle of my body’s
swaying, vigorous, massaging approach toward you
before the weight of your anticipation wanes
if you wait for me before you know me well
before the glee within your imagination and wanting slips
before there is caution and hesitation
weeping into the excitement of having everything that I saw in your eyes
and asked to see again but closer and nearer
before
before
before
if only you will wait for me
and let your bag fill and warm the cafe’s glitter-red booth space
that I am coming to draw around myself like a cape
and be royally regally and rapaciously poured out before you:
Go ahead
choose the entire tray of desserts
claim the coffee is already cold each time the Waiter plops it down
between our voices and laughter and flirting that easily shames the machine-thrown mug
chase the carnivorous bites of meats and cheeses and fruits
with wine that has to be brought in from stores along the block
call sweetly into my bent ear with conspiratorial abiding
gentle gentler still gently and grinningly give graciously in
and speak the truth of the matter and meeting aloud:
Yes, after all those unfilled minutes alone
after claiming your spot in the pool of my gaze
after teasing the heat and sauce from my spoon
after
after
after
I was am will certainly be again
well worth the wait.
Jas. Mardis
(4aa)
Weighing Waiting audio <CLICK FOR AUDIO>
