by Padma Thornlyre
(09/16/09)
Mavka #1
let this kiss be red wine
let it rest upon your tongue
warm your blood to me
let it speak of violets oak
pomegranate rich tannins
of dark chocolate and the fat
cherries of a favored autumn
this winter kiss a morning sun
so blinding on alpine wings I
cannot tell what birds these
are that flutter and flash before
the red-barked ponderosa pine
foothills ringing my Evergreen
cabin this kiss a gold flashing
wing's shadow crossing my face
and rosehips rime-girdled and
may all winging shadows brush
your cheeks so and bearing
such glances may you speak
kind words to me this icy
afternoon your eyes resting
on the Teteriv's bright muscle
this kiss light buoyant wave
and particle and every hue of
the visible and invisible spectra
what star pulse your skin can
absorb a snowflake thawing
upon your eyelashes an owl's
hooting and the owl's green
bough what of you I am
made of what of me makes
you this kiss is the I of us
Mavka #12
you shiver, dress
dripping, my eyes
breast-resting
happily praise
the frisky cloud
for its lightnings
Mavka #16. Invocation
Insofar as you are earth
I will make you my pillow
Insofar as you are spirit
I will sip what wine you
warm within your navel
Insofar as you are sun I
am the sunflower turning
Insofar as you are curve
of current curling I will
scatter gems into your
stillness, insofar as breath
you are reason, dance,
the cliff swallow courting
the burnished twilight
The Poet's Companion - by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux