Orphic Letters 1-9

Letter 1

A thousand and one times today I thought of you.
Purr at my hands,
Breasts rising like heat, the celebration of bodies different
You, bearded and strong with need.
You, mouth and tongue and hands.
What could I say today, that I wasn't delighted, that my body didn't wake to a
Calling for more, that a thousand and one times today I thought of you, that like the River Merchant's Wife, send word that you are coming and I will go out to meet you as far as Cho Fo Sa.

Letter 2
It was hard to call you-
Bare and bear. Kids later, busy now
No plans and letting go, letting go-
The problem with getting closer is the razor sharpness of the slashing
Hands undone.



Letter 3
I am undone, not by need,
But by the risk of need.
After a steady diet of crickets, I sing and call
But hide in the dark.


Letter 4

Missing is like knowing in a vacuum.
What powers this
Cyclone
fencing, thistle and glass.




Letter 5
Imagination is better than knowing,
Goethe knows the secret of curiosity,
The disappointment of known.





Letter 6
S- We called off everything. Popcorn, dogs, candlelight.
Down at the mouth it was dry.
He was so afraid of me. Me, softness and epiphany, strength and eclogue. I touched him and he rose to it, amazing need, need-based and conflicted, I left him like that. Spring without the fruit.
There orange, the rind pulled back, the menace of seeds-
and it was like Christmas, but in July and we couldn't get the music.
I wasn't dressed for it and had to go home to the place where graves are, my own half, my father's, the place I died as a child.



Letter 9

Who will sign up to be no more than that?
It is spring and the smell of his shirt clings to the ground.