Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ASSIGNMENT, by HAYDEN CARRUTH


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ASSIGNMENT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Then write,' she said. 'by all means, if that's
Subject(s): Schools; Students


"Then write," she said. "By all means, if that's
how you feel about it. Write poems.
Write about the recurved arcs of my breasts
joined in an angle at my nipples, how
the upper curve tilts toward the sky and the lower
reverses sharply back into my torso,
write about how my throat rises from the supple
hinge of my collarbones proudly so to speak
with the coin-sized hollow at the center, write
of the perfect arch of my jaw when I hold
my head back -- these are the things in which I too
take delight -- write how my skin is
fine like a cover of snow but warm and soft and
fitted to me perfectly, write the volupte
of soap frothing in my curling crotch-hair, write
the tight parabola of my vulva that resembles
a braided loop swung from a point,
write the two dapples of light on the backs
of my knees, write my ankles so neatly turning
in their sockets to deploy all the sweet
bones of my feet, write how when I am aroused
I sway like a cobra and make sounds
of sucking with my mouth and brush my nipples
with the tips of my left-hand fingers, and then
write how all this is continually pre-existing in my
thought and how I effect it in myself
by my will, which you are not permitted to understand.
Do this. Do it in pleasure and with
devotion, and don't worry about time. I won't
need what you've done until you finish."


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




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