Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NEW LOVE, by JAMES HARRISON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NEW LOVE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: With these dire portents
Last Line: The moon has become the moon again.
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Sex


With these dire portents
we'll learn the language
of knees, shoulder blades,
chins but not the first floor up,
shinbones, the incomprehensible
belly buttons of childhood,
heels and the soles of our feet,
spines and neckbones,
risque photos of the tender
inside of elbows, tumescent fingers
draw the outlines of lost parts
on the wall; bottom and pubis
Delphic, unapproachable as Jupiter,
a memory worn as the first love
we knew, ourselves a test pattern
become obsession: this love
in the plague years - we used to kiss
a mirror to see if we were dead.
Now we relearn the future as we learned
to walk, as a baby grabs its toes,
tilts backward, rocking. Tonight I'll touch
your wrist and in a year perhaps grind
my blind eye's socket against your hipbone.
With all this death, behind our backs,
the moon has become the moon again.





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