Thursday, February 27, 2014

John Yohe- Two Poems

Your love
 
I lift your love out of its cage
writhing in my hands
hissing and rattling
open mouth fangs
scales smooth and slippery
an earth scent
 
I lower your love scared and angry
to the ground
to walk upon
to test my faith
to demonstrate my dominion
and your love accepts my weight
and I speak in tongues
 
raising your love again
draping it around my neck
it rises
glaring
as if to strike
as if to bite
but instead lowers itself
nuzzling
down into my shirt


 
The One
 
            Tu es pure, tu es encore plus
            pure que moi-même
                                    -Eluard
 
If I say I have given up nothing
it is not true
and the smoke doesn’t care
if I go
 
her mouth
her eyes
I may be the only one to speak of them
the only one to have been surrounded
and choked by the heat
 
and fire has a face
a hated face
a hating face
your face
you who I will not name who other men have known
 
the dirt says: on me
the ashes say: on me
embers sense your presence
and our best moments
still burn
 
the sadness of knowing you
the sadness of having you
or not
 
the impatience of waiting
the corruption
you who forgets
destroys
who brings absence and takes me from the world
I hate you for crying
which destroys me and creates itself
like fire


Bio
Born in Puerto Rico, John Yohe grew up in Michigan, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon. He has worked as a wildland firefighter, deckhand/oiler, runner/busboy, bike messenger, wilderness ranger, as well as a teacher of writing.  A complete list of his publications, and poetry, fiction and non-fiction writing samples, can be found at his website: johnyohe dot com

1 comment:

  1. "Your Love" is incredible. Wow! The imagery, the pace, it's as close to perfection as you can get. Excellent!

    ReplyDelete