Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Manners

Gingerly, the poets sit.
Gingerly, they spend
The adjectives of dribbling flatteries,
With here and there a laceration
Feeding on the poison of a smile.
In the home of the poet-host
That bears the slants of a commonplace,
Eagerly distributed--
The accepted lyrical note--
The poets sit.
The poets drink much wine
And tug a little at their garments,
Weighing the advantages of disrobing.
(It is necessary to call them "poets"
Since, according to custom,
Titles are generously given to the attempt.)
Sirona, cousin of the poet-host,
Munches on a feast of words.
She endeavors to convince herself
That her hunger has become an illusion.
The poets, capitulating to wine,
Leave their birds and twilights,
Their trees and cattle at evening,
And study Sirona's body--
Their manacled hands still joined
By the last half-broken link.
Beneath her ill-fitting worship
Young Sirona fears
That the poets are wordy animals
Circled by brocaded corsets. . . .
Sirona, if you stood on your head
Now, and waved the brave plan of your legs,
Undisturbed by cloth,
The poets would be convinced
That you were either insane or angling.
But an exceptional poet,
Never present at these parties,
Would compliment your vigour
And scoff at the vain deceptions of privacy.
Vulgarity, Sirona, is often a word
Invented by certain men to defend
Their disdain for other men, who chuckle
At the skulking tyrannies of fashion.
Few man, Sirona, dare to become
Completely vulgar, but many
Nibble at the fringes.

Submited by

Friday, May 13, 2011 - 01:28

Poesia Consagrada :

No votes yet

Maxwell Bodenheim

Maxwell Bodenheim's picture
Offline
Title: Membro
Last seen: 12 years 48 weeks ago
Joined: 04/27/2011
Posts:
Points: 345

Add comment

Login to post comments

other contents of Maxwell Bodenheim

Topic Title Replies Views Last Postsort icon Language
Poesia Consagrada/Biography Maxwell Bodenheim Biography 0 3.020 05/14/2011 - 13:51 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Your Mind is a Little, Clandestine Pastel 0 1.920 05/14/2011 - 13:47 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Your Criss-Crossed Ringlets of Hair 0 2.216 05/14/2011 - 13:46 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Your Cheeks are Spent Diminuendos 0 2.181 05/14/2011 - 13:45 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Your Breast is the Bridal Couch of Our Stillness 0 1.738 05/14/2011 - 13:45 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Your Body was Puzzling 0 2.053 05/14/2011 - 13:44 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Your Body Is a Closed Fan 0 1.970 05/14/2011 - 13:43 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Your Arms, in Faltering Crescendos 0 2.223 05/14/2011 - 13:42 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Young Woman 0 2.068 05/14/2011 - 13:42 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Young Poet 0 1.778 05/14/2011 - 13:41 English
Poesia Consagrada/Love Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : You Have a Morning-Glory Face 0 1.970 05/14/2011 - 13:40 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : You Draw My Heart about You 0 1.743 05/14/2011 - 13:39 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : You Are a Well Sprayed with Cool Rubies 0 1.900 05/14/2011 - 13:39 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : The Wrinkled Grimaces of Eastern Skies 0 2.018 05/14/2011 - 13:34 English
Poesia Consagrada/Meditation Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : When Spirits Speak of Life 0 2.085 05/14/2011 - 13:33 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : When Fools Dispute 0 1.911 05/14/2011 - 13:32 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Whenever a Love Dies Within You 0 1.675 05/14/2011 - 13:31 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : We Met Upon Nearby Hill-Tops 0 1.962 05/14/2011 - 13:31 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : We Blew a Luminous Confusion of Thoughts 0 1.835 05/14/2011 - 13:30 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Vaudeville Moment 0 1.596 05/14/2011 - 13:29 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Upon an Arched Sarcophagus of Pain 0 1.973 05/14/2011 - 13:28 English
Poesia Consagrada/Meditation Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Uneasy Reflections 0 1.816 05/14/2011 - 13:28 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Two Women on a Street 0 1.896 05/14/2011 - 13:27 English
Poesia Consagrada/General Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Two Walls, Dizzy with Rain-Touch 0 2.170 05/14/2011 - 13:26 English
Poesia Consagrada/Sonnet Maxwell Bodenheim Poems : Two Sonnets to My Wife 0 2.053 05/14/2011 - 13:25 English