Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A DISCRETE LOVE POEM by JAMES GALVIN

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: THIS IS FOR YOU, WITH YOUR UMBRELLA
Last Line: This is for that night your body was neither here nor there
Subject(s): LOVE; LOVE - UNREQUITED; SEX;

This is for you, with your umbrella,
Your suitcase stuffed with roadmaps,
And the fatal blouse unbuttoned.

This is not for your precarious bedroom.

I couldn't help but notice
As several of your possessions assumed false identities:
The clock, for instance,
And your mother's portrait.

I couldn't keep my eyes off that space between your breasts,
A tract of liberated ground.

And later, when the bed sank
Like an earthen raft in the middle of a field, well...

Just the same,
This is for that night your body was neither here nor there.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org



Home: PoetryExplorer.net