Decades: 10-line Exercises — concision without confusion
Inside and Outside
Both babies wanted to stay inside you, Our son especially, but our daughter, too—What could I do? I sang “Lindy Lou” to youIn the shower, as hot water eased your pain,Then back to the bed, the torture of labor,The labor of pleasure, laughing and cryingSince between the two there was little to tell,And all our talk punctuated by gaspsAs evolution claimed its rights of youKeeping me outside knowing no different.
Both babies wanted to stay inside you, Our son especially, but our daughter, too—What could I do? I sang “Lindy Lou” to youIn the shower, as hot water eased your pain,Then back to the bed, the torture of labor,The labor of pleasure, laughing and cryingSince between the two there was little to tell,And all our talk punctuated by gaspsAs evolution claimed its rights of youKeeping me outside knowing no different.
Though Still a Beast
Now and then I remember both my hands Lightly cupped atop your hips where your curves Suggest the bliss a man might take in you, And for a fleeting moment I’m awake, In spite of decades of death and despair, As I was once when you said yes to me, And I became a man, though still a beast,Who understood the primal accident Of evolutionary convergences—The body coming, mind had to follow.
Now and then I remember both my hands Lightly cupped atop your hips where your curves Suggest the bliss a man might take in you, And for a fleeting moment I’m awake, In spite of decades of death and despair, As I was once when you said yes to me, And I became a man, though still a beast,Who understood the primal accident Of evolutionary convergences—The body coming, mind had to follow.
Broken Clay
The other day I broke a bowl. Saddened me. As I cleaned it up I looked out the windowAnd a hummingbird flew right up to meAs if to say look how beautiful I am—Think of the new bowl you’re inspired to buy.All of us know this was just an accident,A pair of contingencies, nothing more,But so near the end am I now, grumpy too,I’m not so sure as I might once have been—Did the broken clay set the hummingbird free?
The other day I broke a bowl. Saddened me. As I cleaned it up I looked out the windowAnd a hummingbird flew right up to meAs if to say look how beautiful I am—Think of the new bowl you’re inspired to buy.All of us know this was just an accident,A pair of contingencies, nothing more,But so near the end am I now, grumpy too,I’m not so sure as I might once have been—Did the broken clay set the hummingbird free?