This Kind of Grace
by Pattiann Rogers
Let's bless the body before love.
By rights we should, every detail.
We could use water, spring water
or rose, minted or bay rum. A touch
to the shoulders -- bless these. A drop
behind each knee -- sanctify here. A sprinkle
to the belly, yours, mine -- in heartfelt
appreciation.
I could dip my fingers into oil cupped
in my palm, sweet citronella, lavender,
clove, trace your forehead, temple
to temple, the boldness of that warm
stone -- so glorified -- perfume the entire
declaration of your spine, neck
to tail -- so hallowed.
We'd neglect nothing, ankle, knuckle,
thigh, cheek. And for the rapture
of hair, scented with sweat or the spices
of cedary sages and summer pines,
in which I hide my face -- praise
to the conjoining hosts of all
radiant forests and plains.
And imagine how I'd lay my hand,
move my hand carefully on and around
and under each axil and hummock and whorl
between your legs, the magnificent maze
of those gifts--thanks to the exploding
heavens, thanks to all pulsing suns.
For these cosmic accomplishments:
this delve of your body, a narrow
crevasse leading into earth-darkness;
this assertion of your hands, light
winds lifting, parting, pressing
upon supine grasses; this rise, the tip
of a swollen moon over black hills;
this sweep of union, hawk-shadow
falling fast across the open prairie
into the horizon; for this whole blessed
body, for what we are about to receive
together tonight...truly, ardently,
ecstatically, boundlessly
grateful.
--------
I first posted this poem here, more than two years ago. I'm betting that 9/10 of the people currently reading this journal weren't reading it then, and I know some the people who read it then are no longer here, so I've decided that it is worth rerunning some of my very favorite poems that I haven't posted in a couple of years, because I read them more often than that.I had a Stupid Day, as I kept forgetting to do things I needed to get done while doing other things that were unnecessary. Going to drive my older son's carpool, for instance: I had totally forgotten that he had a field trip canoeing on the Anacostia River, and that they were getting back to school so late that
was going to pick him up, I piled younger son and his friend Ivan into the car, took them to the playground by the school where the middle school bus drops my older son off, and realized only as the bus pulled away where he was. The only good news about this was that I got to take some photos of the flowers by the school, and younger son and his friend got to play on the equipment for awhile. Then I came home, started writing an article, realized it was the wrong source and started over (and I had three articles to do today, too, so there was not a moment to lose). I am blaming seasonal allergies for the brain farts...and I did remember to get my parents' newspaper, so there.
The good thing about hating last night's Veronica Mars is that it made me appreciate tonight's Smallville, which I expected to suck. I mean, the main plot is such a screaming horrible bloody cliche...and believe me, I know this from personal experience, as I have written stories with the same gimmick in no less than three fandoms. *waves to and giggles* Chloe got in some great lines, Clark got in some doe-eyes at Lex, and if only there had been no Lana in the episode I would have said I really enjoyed it. Some WB note I had read said that Lex took advantage of Clark's amnesia to make him find the stones, which is what I was expecting, and while that would have had the advantage of pushy!Lex leading innocent!Clark astray, which would have been delightfully wicked even if wrong, it would have made it a lot harder to root for Clark ever to trust Lex again. Instead Lex was just a little sneaky, quite Lex-like, and Clark seemed to suspect something was up in the end anyway. I am so sure that Lex told him that they were lovers and they had sex before they went to the caves (or maybe they had sex IN the caves) anyway. As amnesia stories go, this one was only average stupidity, better than the one with Michael on La Femme Nikita anyway, and I liked that Chloe remembered about Clark even if she forgot the last couple of days. I was afraid near the end that the writers were going to use this as an excuse to undo that. I really appreciated that last scene between her and Clark, and am pretending the Lana business never happened.
If you are waiting for me to post fic, I had better warn you that I am channeling it all into the dreaded FQF fic that is threatening to be an epic, and I would even let it were it not for the fact that it must be done by that fateful day in July when I expect to have canon yanked out from under me. So there may be something of a dearth of HP fic in here until I finish that, unless I post some of the installments that might stand alone. (I still have a bit of a bunny involving a garden, but I make no promises there.) I also think I might, um, have some Pirates of the Caribbean fic that started out something else ENTIRELY. I blame my children for this, as they were watching POTC -- that acronym always makes me think of Passion of the Christ, which does not make me happy -- and I sat down to watch with them long enough to see Jack and Will steal the Interceptor, because I love that scene so much, and all of a sudden for the first time I really saw Jack/Will. I must admit that I always thought people were on crack when they talked about it; I saw Norrington/Jack and Will/Elizabeth all the way when I bothered to 'ship it at all. It was quite an unnerving moment, having my previous many viewings undermined and realizing that I had a piece of fic I could remix in its honor all in the same moment. *g*
It was yet another gorgeous day today so I took some more spring photos, and here are a few of them. Back to England tomorrow!
I just love the patterns and phallic bits inside tulips.
And I love the veins highlighting these petals...
...and the more subtle ones on these pink azaleas, too.
These flowers make me sneeze, but I can't resist the way they make a canopy from the branches anyway. Can anyone tell me what kind of tree it is? These don't make monstrous berries all year like my neighbor's pink flowering tree.
And while you are back here, an entertaining meme. At least I thought so.
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