POEMS

Strength — Lust

Tarot free verse

VIII. Strength. Author’s photo.

I.

I stood on one leg, the left,

for my right was blue, and pulled up towards Mercy.

I stood on one leg and the beast turned.

My knee in the torso, the torso in the lovers, the lovers in Rodin.

My leg went up, my hand went down,

picked the secret from a crevasse.

II.

I put my hand in the mouth of the beast,

felt its lethal stillness, the boredom of a dirty bus going downtown,

the boredom of too big a tongue in a mouth.

Hand in the teeth, the sun licked my chest,

under the arc and behind the wall

my burned hands stole seven secret peas.

III.

The beast on its back,

the soul on my head,

altars built from a hardware store.

It is no secret that the hills will put heliotropes in your hair.

Torso of Adele — Rodin. Author’s photo of author’s carbon drawing.