The Fourth Annual Brigid Cyber Poetry Slam Part 2

Art by Fumi Nakamura, who will be illustrating Francesca's latest Wood Nymph Seeks Centaur: A Mythological Dating Guide

dreamscape

by Francesca Lia Block
in these hills there are many lights
luminarias and bonfires
christmas ornaments and candles
scattered through the deep green dark
as i clamber the steep sides
the broken steps and chipped pathways
you are always just a little ahead of me
i can hear your band playing at the next party
but when i get there you are gone
just some stray people drinking beer around the koi pond
dazzled by the shiny reflections
they never seem to see me
like a dreamer in a dream

my mouth is pomegranate
i am wearing a pale blue silk corset
thigh high fishnets
fetish shoes
that make it hard for me to walk
all under the velvet cloak
my hair spills dark around pale cheeks
i am trying to look like the woman i imagine you see
alone in your room at night
while you dream your songs

i have left the warm and fragile arms
of my college boyfriend
the one who wrote the first poem about me
the one i left for that lover anorexia
and my father's cancer
the one who married a japanese woman
they brought their baby to my reading
he must be a young man now, that child
willowy with lotus blossom eyes
and the only time i see his daddy
is reflected in the dark pool of my dreams

i have left the little bungalow in the hills
overlooking the jewel-like lights
i feel my bound nakedness under my cloak
corset bones girding my hips like your fingers
as i stumble from one party to the next
following the music
thinking somehow you can bring me back to life
wake me from this dream

but you can't
even though the trees in my garden would dance for you
even though when i tasted your mouth i became bloodthirsty
like a maenad
you're just wandering the hills of your dreams too
and though you cannot save me
still i am breathless with
the beauty of all this
it is all mine
and soon with
or without you
soon i will
awaken

***

Let poetry bless the blogosphere once again!
WHAT: A Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading
WHEN: Anytime February 2, 2009
WHERE: Your blog
WHY: To celebrate the Feast of Brigid, aka Groundhog Day
HOW: Select a poem you like - by a favorite poet or one of your own - to post February 2nd.