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Toothsome

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Danse Russe by William Carlos Williams

If I when my wife is sleeping

and the baby and Kathleen

are sleeping

and the sun is a flame-white disc

in silken mists

above shining trees,—

if I in my north room

dance naked, grotesquely

before my mirror

waving my shirt round my head

and singing softly to myself:

“I am lonely, lonely.

I was born to be lonely,

I am best so!”

If I admire my arms, my face,

my shoulders, flanks, buttocks

against the yellow drawn shades,—

Who shall say I am not

the happy genius of my household?

after William Carlos Williams

My husband and daughter sleep
blind to the bleach 
of street lamps
and every wellspring headlight sluicing 
the dark

Pre-dawn but this cavity
chants of you —

Don’t smile
Don’t smile
Better to tongue 
the deep, empty groove

I rise, pirouette across
cold parquet
The kitten shadows me 
so we waltz until 
it is time to commit

Keys under fingers 
twitch, twitch
and my page glows as the black
prowls into this gentled grey

the taste of a cached penny
behind compressed lips

Hold your breath
make my wish

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Richard Lamoureux

Date: 4/22/2020 8:52:00 AM

Most enjoyable to read again. Although we never really connected, I still appreciate your talent. I believe the soup was far better place with you as apart of it. It is sad that people like you and others have chosen to leave.

Richard Lamoureux

Date: 1/8/2018 2:00:00 PM

Some of the pieces that appear fully formed cause one to wonder at the source we are tapped into. I very much enjoyed the feel of this piece. It has a certain solidity.

Thvia Shetley

Date: 9/20/2017 3:15:00 PM

That awful metallic taste! I never had a cavity in my life until after my 5th and final baby was born. That'll do it! Haven't had one since either but oh I remember that taste. I like this poem a lot. Off subjects appeal to me.

Toothsome

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