Listen to poem:
The Oculus Between Us
Written: September 2nd, 2025, for Contest Sponsored By Rob Carmack
***********
You touched me with a selfish grace—
a twist of tenderness,
a lover’s rage wrapped in rubicund silk.
We were prolific in our undoing,
a clamor of glamor and grit,
gargling truth through voracious nights
while Asteria watched,
her eyes full of truthful stars.
I spat your name into the noosphere,
where dreams go to die or be reborn.
You were my doppelgänger ache,
my endogenous flame,
the replica of every archetype
I tried to reject.
We danced in the penumbra of joy,
each step a pastiche of pulchritude and pain.
You, emulous in your appetency,
me, entranced with the miraculous ache
of wanting more than the sum of us.
I tried to winnow wisdom
from the sage’s vade mecum,
but found only flapdoodle and nephrology—
diagnoses of hearts too full to beat clean.
We were consanguineous in our chaos,
a fulgent maelstrom of want and war.
You regaled me with your Icarian truths,
then shattered our quietude
with a jussive whisper.
I grokked your slipshod love,
your generous lies,
your sylphlike exits.
Now I sojourn in the aftermath,
a flaneur of our layered past,
resiling from the squalor of memory
with the pertinacity of a yokel
who believes even nonsense
can be fertile.
Joy becomes the reward—
not of peace,
but of surviving the twist,
the grabble,
the glamor,
the grief.
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.
Please
Login
to post a comment
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a
Premium Membership.
