Forgot to mention here...

...that I am posting NaPoWriMo poems this month at the Bloof blog, along with Sandra Simonds, Danielle Pafunda & Anne Boyer. (Jennifer L. Knox and Peter Davis are also playing, but elsewhere, and there are links to their poems over there.)

It's, like, a poetry party. How long can we keep dancing?

A Special Physiology

Say, for sake of argument
that to lighten her cares
a girl ceases altogether
to be fickle

She will stop
working too hard

She will settle her heart
into the cradle
of someone else’s
& not be aimless or scant

All dear girls linger
upon this point

At first

•

A girl loses
many particles over time
like any article
that can become worn out

She teases eventually
every unfrayed fiber
by use of it

On the other hand,
if she were never
to employ herself
to any end at all

her body would hang
around herself
as the sleeve hangs
on an underdeveloped arm

An ideal girl
learns or intuits
her elastic pattern
of use & ease

She will end as
she never knew she began

the daughter
of no mother but herself




From For Girls (& Others), Bloof 2008

Subjects of Private Interest

The very verb
obtain

taken but with
little empathy

A rumpled promise
to a rumpled suitor

A tempt
to woo

A toe
a shoe

An arm
a lacy garment

A calf
a laugh

& to be emphatic:
never hairy!



From For Girls (& Others), Bloof 2008

Our Mission to the Race

When you’re a girl
the moon belongs

There’s a song

It shows its hooks & eyes
It trembles its single number

It is rather stupid, but sweet
It steps like a barefooted boy
It never stops growling

Upon your health
recuperative
its charm

You must be loose
with it, the moon

Taunt it twenty different ways
in as many days
to tax its nature

Let us see
what can be done
with a mere bald planet



From For Girls (& Others), Bloof 2008

Urges in Regard to Which Girls Should Receive Especial Instruction

Regretfully I cannot let
another chapter pass
without mention
of the secret bad habits

I will be as plain as I may

Touching
fingering
handling &
playing

in a manner not necessary
for cleanliness

rob the complexion
of rosy blood
by calling it down
toward lustier cheeks

When you notice girls
going about dead pale
with dark purplish rings
what other matter
can be blamed?

Admittedly
there are some girls
who claim to do it
long & often
without falling ill

But take my word:
such a female is in reality
tormented almost unto madness
by spells, deliriums
& spasms



From For Girls (& Others), Bloof 2008

Some May Demur

Corsaged,the sweep of hair
back from your brow

& row upon row
of unfumbled buttons

A rescued grimness
perches on your three-quarters face

Overpreened plumage

of bouffant sleeves
& pintucked pleats

The air in the room
                                   suspends

a drift of talcum

When the century mounts
will you complete your turn

to face it



From For Girls (& Others), Bloof 2008

Besides the Dress

So this is your minimalist
dressing table

Your soundless powder

Brushes hushed
in a cracked glass

A dust

A hair listlessly

•

Don’t bother
to call him sir

It makes him feel old

A swipe or two toward the eyes
A strap adjusted
Lift & plump, tease
spritz

A buckle
A hook like a tooth

•

Daily
& most nights

how many
of you
sit in this chair
pouting at each other

crowding round your face
to see

which of you
you will choose

to clothe

to walk out



From For Girls (& Others), Bloof 2008