Aught No. 11/12 (2003) - Tabios, Epilogue Poems #13

Aught, no. 11/12 (2003)

Eileen Tabios

Epilogue Poem #13

Poems. But it's not easy.
Should I have been
a plumber worsening water
beneath your sink?
Today I shook off her hand
from my typing fingers typing:
O moon in hiding. O shivering sky.
O scent of jasmine evaporating.
Geese of the world: forgive
me. 
cr> tar ice otf Reveal the song
within your cacophony.
The Muse — O Muse — is ice otf never Anonymous.

Epilogue Poem #14

And if the Muse
Is never Anonymous?
O Life: why the sudden
difficulty in accepting
the existence of angels?
How to survive their strangle-
hold when they wish
only to scaffold my spine—
that inadvertent but
inevitable asphyxiation

cr> tar ice otf sr< sr< sr<
from wings hiding the
required muscles for
flights penetrating the sky?
O bone, O sinew, O blood
O Muse who is too human
If I must treat you as mortal
why do I fight rfs sen nro>
cr> tar ice otf sr< sr< Love?

Epilogue Poem #15

rso a<n crs te< if> orr nae scf
rtr eia foc rnt asi

c<o trn ies of< nr> sarrce etf fir
roa anc cst t ecr

Just when I thought I understood
her fragility

I found myself soothing her:
“Sweetheart,

when I said ‘No’
I was not rejecting you.”

Epilogue Poem #16

I whispered into her hair
as she hid her face
beneath my chin

rso a<n crs te< if> orr nf
rtr eia foc rnt asi
c<o trn ies of< nr>

“I think we should be happy
with a book that will be unusual,
by virtue of its ~~quality~~ story.”

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jasmine perfume of cobalt sky
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Epilogue Poem #17

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So much elapses

None of it
brings me close
to understanding

Her Fragility

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na or< ifs ten cro>
cr> tar ice otf sr< sr< sr<

Epilogue Poem #18
(Heliotrope)

“It happened.” Unexpected kiss
I pressed on her startled
lips. Her hair released
its ghostly mist. Fragile, she
backed away the one step
allowed — the sweet limit
anticipated in my ruled
notebooks. My new impatience
another kiss, softening
fear I licked off as apples.
Her tears fell: grapes
for my avid tongue. My mouth
a new sky, all containing.
A meadow, a river, or a chamber
with chair and mirror—
all become body and breath
extorting unsurpassable song.

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