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These poems are submissions to the Benicia Love Poem Contest 2012. The contest is presented by the Benicia Poet Laureate Program and is sponsored jointly by the Benicia Public Library and the Benicia Historic Museum.If I Had Known You When You Were.......... by Marlene Hitt A newborn, your face red and creased I’d have had no hope for you, or when you embarrassed your mother during prayers I’d not have liked you. Or when you were whooping and hollering bareback on your pony, even when later with your dog, the crazy one. I wouldn’t have liked you, for you would have been like other boys, making me be the army nurse, then whisking off to a battlefield far away where I wouldn’t see you for the rest of the day. I would not have liked you! If I had known you, been with you, as you knelt in rice paddies …
Seeing by Carol Garvey I see but how do I see not with my eyes with my heart with my touch with my soul I see love
perfect mouth by Anonymous the poetry that flows when the corners rise those lips of rose and the glint in her eyes i feel the joy when the words come out it really is a perfect mouth settled at green water's edge thoughts of her touch are filling my head there's a line out there I don’t know where I need the map to find the route it really is a perfect mouth she nears my soul on dancer’s feet with flawless skin her prose so sweet the touch of those lips but I’m filled with doubt it really is a perfect mouth I want her to mosey up from behind lean in close, stop bidin’ her time whisper to me…
"A Love" by Mary Lou Haugh A love so deep,so good, so fullof beginnings, sopossible, yet so impossible too.Yes, there issuch a love.You have proventhis to me.But somehowyou are more than loveitself. You are a mystery, the sweetest mystery I have ever known. Without you,joy could not touchmy heart with sucha luminous sensitivity. Just the thought of you fills mewith an unknownwonder, like glittering,golden stardust in the silence of dark nights.You bring joylike a ripened, tender,purple plum,the most deliciousone that grows on an ancientphantom love tree, whose rootstravel endlessly.Your …
Paradise Explained by Suzanne Bruce Today, they look fully into each other eyes,silent stories speak as perpetual flamesof precious remembrances ignite, lightpours its gold through cherished and sacredlove, connection constant, gentle, like riverssoftening the ruggedness of stony mountains. Over 50 years ago, sunset buried in the mountains,his proposal brightened the evening sky, her eyesfilled with tears as she stood shaking, riversof joyful energy surged through her body, flamesof passion spread as they bowed to their sacredness,vowed to be together through the dark, the light. Their first…
THE DISCIPLINE OF LOVE by Alexa Mergen The discipline of love requires attention.A naturalist watching workways of ants,the researcher recording etchings of dreams. Imagine a birder in search of a species,outfitted in khaki vest, soft-soled shoes, magnificent binoculars draping her neck. That’s you as you listen for love.The song may break silence at any time. Love, spied in the red-twigged tree among antsmarching on green layered leaves. Love!There! Call it in. Call it in with your trilling heart.
TO LOVE, ITSELF by Deborah Silverman Love, you sneaky scoundrel,you made your entrance - not with the brave, assertive flourishthat has hearts tremble and rupture,but in stealthy, measured steps. I, a young teen, frittered my daysadrift in the rituals of school and dates,lounging in the ease and shelterof a functional home, an orderly family.I was unconcerned with cold war,caring more about what I wore. You, an intruder, breached the threshold, shined your light into the night of mysecured and insulated disarray,rife with fixations and sublimations.You rummaged through every …
I Miss You by John Hamling You’ve been gone a week and I’m staying busy, but you’re never out of my thoughts. Eating a mango I think of you, juice dripping from my chin and fingers.Showering alone I miss your hands on my back and I miss my hands all over your body. Cooking for me seems like a waste of time; why do people do anything they can’t share with someone they love? I miss everything you do and everything you don’t do,like never failing to make me feel whole and happyand in love with you and the world.The flowers you left in the purple vase are dieing on the kitchen table,they miss …
Love In The Kitchen by Joel Fallon She is nimble in the kitchenpreparing early dinner.Sugar, half teaspoon in the wooden bowl,to diffuse the clove of garlic rubbed in circlesin the bowl. Her apron says “KISS THE COOK.”I long to do so.The salad comes togethermagically. Apron and light dress do not conceal thefluid movement nor mask the beauty of her form.We sip a glass of plonk. She prepares tomato sauce with speed and grace.Bringing water to a boil, she adds oil and a pinch of saltthen the pasta. There is a sheen on her forehead.She smiles and removes the garlic breadfrom the oven. I am …
Essence by Betty Finocchiaro In the garden outside our kitchen John has planted a patch of violetsWalking among themI try not to crush the leavesor delicate flowers Bending to gather a few leavesthe heart-shapes intrigue meForming a small purple bouquetshaped into a nosegaya violet vapor risesmy heart lurcheswhile I clutch my bouquet tightly It is May, the day bright and sunnyI walk to the shutters, open themletting in the magical lightMy wedding dayin SicilyPreparations all aboutWhite ribbons, white satin dressa roomful of white roses Mount Etna, majestic, proudstill wearing her shawl …
Gathering Daisies by Evie Groch Gathering daisiesin a meadow sparse,looking for loveamong the weeds. So dark and so tall,European as hell,“Love me,” he beckons,“Love me now and again.” “Gathering daisies,that’s what I do,common field flowersa garland to make.” “Daisies are daisies,that’s all they are,but you, my bud, arethe bloom in the vase.” “Come now or not ever,my love cannot wait.”“I am not ready,”“So stay, I must go.” Evening has sneaked in,blanketing the fields,the last rays of the sunare in for the night. She now sits alonemaking garlands no more,watering the reedswith her grief…
Nancy... by Don Peery My bared branches swell with meaning in your sweet spring.
The Keys, Please by Joanette Sorkin I've found an extra set of keysWith luck, they may unlock my heartI hold them out as if to teaseThough giving them may not be smart With luck, they may unlock my heartIf you take mine, I'll have yours pleaseThough giving them may not be smartThe need's not easy to appease If you take mine, I'll have yours pleaseI hope the horse precedes the cartThe need's not easy to appeaseBe gentle, I could fall apart I hope the horse precedes the cartI hold them out as if to teaseBe gentle, I could fall apartI've found an extra set of keys
A Grain Of Truth by Eric Deck You are not the greatest human being I have ever met Making you happy is not the only goal of my life You aren't the wind beneath my wings I could certainly live without you A single smile from you does not make my day You are not all I need Your form does not enchant me Your words do not enchant me You do not excite me Often, I hate you You do not permeate my everything, I do not breathe you in with every breath Frequently, I loathe you Your crooked, yellow teeth disgust me Your lips taste bland You smell of sweat And yet you are strange and fascinating Like no …
MY SISTER THE CENTAUR by Mary Rudge Grown, your long wild mane of hair wind-blown, white arms sun browned, body gleaming bare to the waist then molded, joined, in centaur-form from your long love of horse, dead sister, in my dreams we live, our fantasy. Two of us cantering through childhood. knowing honey-sweet the field flower faces, streams rippled mix of minnows and sun, with our herd God made before He changed design to bodies better fit to church and pew and choir ( we thought). We read those books of myth where centaurs all were men, but in our young girls-hearts we felt a horse and …
ships for her lips by anonymous if Helen had my lovers lips there wouldn't have been sent to war an army on a thousand ships but warriors enough to fill ten thousand more
Now the Moon by Patti Sullivan In a simple walkfor a paperdusk surrounding usedges back litdarkness has won over the light In an act of loveboundless faithin the unseenWe arrive home again.
Lost Coast by Joanette Sorkin Walking through molasses up the beachSunlight and light breeze before the rainPoints beyond the lighthouse out of reachBut in this stretch such mysteries are containedA hermit’s house, wet wood, a seal’s remainsDrizzle comes just as we reach our tentWe climb inside, undress, unzip the vent Hot and cold we struggle to find comfortDampness in the air and on our skinSeeking rhymes our efforts all wind up shortUntil our consternation turns to grinsAs we relax and inner heat beginsTo warm a knee, a thigh, a foot, a breastArdor driving chill from bone and nest …
HARSH WORDS by Michael Mautner Harsh words from loving lipsSpring from the surfaceNever out of the depths. Such lips know how to hitPrecisely at their target—Ready! Aim! No, don’t… Fire…is the deep well of each kiss. Would that I had pulled thoseMissiles back down into those depths And let that Fire consume themOnce launched they cannotBe recalled, I know; I must Live now among the ruinsThey’ll have wrought, me and myRegrets. They are from my depths. I pray that you will still be there,O my surface, O my airSo sweet, which to breathe too deep May sometimes burnOn the surface …
