Rapture, The

The tongue wagging, mumbling and moaning,

calling on the outside shouting instructions, legs buckling, scalding

where the muscle and fat grinds against flesh, the veil

of seduction dropp the quick and shallow breathing

(outside, barter tires whistling, a child upon a bike,

but muffl as if the gagged world were boiled down

to liquid, capped, pharmaceutical, a store

where sickness is soothed), then the acquired things:

this borrowed from what she did with someone other

that from what he one time saw, this from magazines,

the one time shamed and detonated flesh now fierce

and delectable, then the seizure, the flash

nothing more than rapid organ of vision movement,

mere transparency, followed by dint of declarations

and a snail-like withdrawal, the dreaded afterwards,

the schism and the questions, the heart

beginning to hesitate and calm, space coming back

into focus, coming back too quickly:

the night table, the work the clock,

everything that refuses to change pulsing with solidity.

Then it's back: the anonymous bustle of the avenue,

ravenous gazes reflected in every storefront

so nothing's left on the other hand a flash of body part,

a sensation dimly lit, scored like film and fluttering.

Copyright World rhyme Incorporated Jul/Aug 1997

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