The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poem Thread, 9/25/07

[BlueIris]

"Wan Chu's Wife In Bed"

Wan Chu, my adoring husband,
has returned from another trip
selling trinkets in the provinces.
He pulls off his lavender shirt
as I lie naked in bed,
waiting for him. He tells me
I am the only woman heill ever love.
He may wander from one side of China
to the other, but his heart
will always stay with me.
His face glows in the lamplight
with the sincerity of a boy
when I lower the sating sheet
to let him see my breasts.
Outside, it begins to rain
on the cherry trees
he planted with our son,
and when he enters me with a sigh,
the storm begins in earnest,
shaking our little house.
Afterwards, I stroke his back
until he falls asleep.
I'd love to stay awake all night
listening to the rain,
but I should sleep, too.
Tomorrow Wan Chu will be
a hundred miles away
and I will be awake all night
in the arms of Wang Chen,
the tailor from Ming Poa,
the tiny village down river.

—Richard Jones

[wildhorses]

1. seems like i have read this one before, somewhere --

odd:shrug:

liked it then, still like it now :hi:

[BlueIris]

3. Uh-oh. Maybe Retro posted it a while ago.

:-O

[wildhorses]

4. could be. he introduced me to a lot of poems.

i will always be grateful for that. i am not too good with names and dates, sorry.

[BlueIris]

5. Yeah, he sent me the complete RetroLounge Poem Thread list a while ago...

...but I haven't exactly looked over it yet (computer problems)...sorry, Retro...

[wildhorses]

8. don't sweat it....i could be wrong,anyway

remember i am the one that confuses famous poets with teenagers ;) :rofl:

[Perseid]

13. I'll give you a plug nickel for that list! n't

[BlueIris]

14. You could just PM Retro, I think.

[Perseid]

15. Is it okay that I sometimes just throw my thoughts

into these threads? If not, just let me know.

thanks

[BlueIris]

16. Oh, it's fine. Whatever gets my poem threads more replies. :-)

The only things not welcome in these threads are flames or unnecessary criticisms. Posting that you don't like a poem is fine, (though I always appreciate knowing why not) saying you think a poem's construction is flawed or that the perspective of the poem's speaker is messed up in some way are also fine, but no flames. And no hurtful "this poem just sucks, Blue" kind of remarks, please. I do have feelings.

[ThomCat]

2. Wow.

That twist is nicely done.

[BlueIris]

6. Yeah, I've always liked that twist. A little dark humor

to go with the surprise.

[BlueIris]

7. Kick.

[BlueIris]

9. Kick.

[BlueIris]

10. Kick.

[BlueIris]

11. Kick.

[Perseid]

12. We are parallel lines

moving in directions
that practically and usually
enable us to keep from being
free
sometimes lost within ourselves
and sometimes

we are doors without knobs
to twist and fight ourselves free
we forget about winds blowing
and sometimes

we are lost within ourselves
and someone says something that
makes us forget we were lost
to ourselves
and we hear the winds blowing
again
and we join the sound
excitedly
again
and sometimes

we are moving toward each other
in a crossfire way

(top of head, not edited): edit: edited

[Perseid]

17. kick

[BlueIris]

18. Hee.

Thanks.