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Jas. Mardis
Fabric and Leather Portrait Artist & Writer
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Jas. Mardis
I Eye–audio
I, Eye
certainly
there is some other way of naming your attraction
some other ways
of counting out the names that I have given to your beauty
some simple method of calculating the hours spent remembering
all the joy
made possible simply and wonderfully by looking upon you
and knowing that
no other person or thing or moment on this old Earth
is ever going to bring me such a wonderful aching
until it returns comes back around knocks…enters…home
so,
tell me again how I first came to be in your eyes
dancing my old bones and flesh thru the sunset rivers of your stare
holding your browned, honey glazed look upon me
and being swallowed into your pupils as a precious light
just once more
say my name without opening your mouth
without parting your lips without any sounds at all
like you do on your pictures
taken from above your head from your camera’s phone
selfish selfies
with the whole world wanting to be part of such a moment
men and women themselves watching for their turn in your eyes
willing to settle for a moment of you thru a lens
wanting silent credit for capturing all of what you want just me to see
and moments later there you are
the distance miles of roads acres of grass and river waters
steps and tip-toed inches erased with a button’s push
and you
your eyes so brilliant and bright and beckoning me into that flash moment
your silliness your awakening into morning light your muscle work
spilling out from my phone
sighted suddenly like lonely sailors must have seen Mermaids
missing home watching dark water a noise
the glass eye raised to see whatever could it be
“Captain, my Captain…oh, my soul…”
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Jas. Mardis (06/ 2015)
(4nomi/)
Jas. Mardis is a 2014 inductee to The Texas Literary Hall of Fame and Editor of KenteCloth: Southwest Voices of the African Diaspora, UNT Press
(audio: Then And Again)
between seeing you
between having a moment of your smiling
and the absence of you
between the early afternoon sun on your face
and the memory of wanting to keep you longer than one meal
between then and again
the same again of wanting and waiting
the same again of hoping and having
the same again of knowing and wanting to know more
between all the stops and starts of doubting
between every ounce and measure of experience
between each one of my days and nights of aloneness
and the heavier weight of choosing rightly who to kiss twice first
between every moment that chases me toward the again
I am awash and dumbstruck by the moment of THEN
I remember every step that I’ve taken in your presence
and every time that you turned toward me
every flash of recognition in your eyes
each of your tentative smiles each parting of your lips
the opening and closing of your mouth to greet me and to send me on my way
I had thought of you before from a collection of distances
thought of you married thought of you otherwise taken and claimed and loved
thought twice of you younger twice your dynamic in that youthfulness
I had checked and held my breath in your presence
checked for those awkward, low whistles that the body creates around breathing
checked on my taking in and letting out
checked out those risings and fallings of your small chest
checked on the way your stomach fills to a tightness then yields to the belted waist of your black dress when you chuckle
checked off all of the reasons to leave you in the distance
THEN
checked off all the reasons to close that distance
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Jas. Mardis is a 2014 Inductee to The Texas Literary Hall of Fame. He is an awarded Poet and Fabric Artist living in Dallas,TX