faces of love

8/9/2019 Faces of Love

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FACES OF LOVE:POEMS ON THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF LOVEBY:SCOTT PETTY


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Table of ContentsDEATH..............................................................................3SUFFERING........................................................................4FAITH................................................................................5MEMORIES.......................................................................6DISTANCE..........................................................................7OBSESSION........................................................................8INTIMACY..........................................................................9PURSUIT............................................................................10WONDER...........................................................................11KISSES...............................................................................12LUST...................................................................................13INNOCENT...........................................................................14


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Whats it like when you die?

Night time together, me and my son. You

time for soft words under soft light Just kind of crumble like a bad pear

The covers of a dark That is no longer Night.

And then my little boy opens the mood Its a bit tough on the exterior but

With his innocent question: Surprisingly soft yet

Mommy, whats it like Powerful on the inside. Its like

When you die? Succulent sand that

I bring him close to his home under Dissolves on your

My bosom and try to answer Tongue.

His unanswerable question And even though death

Is nothing like any When you die, son, maybe its Other fruit, it

Like eating a pear. Has the taste

Remember those pears I brought Nostalgia even

Home last week? If it is your

I dont know of any fruit First time.

It taste like

Sometimes dying

Has a texture like

A peach but canBe grainy like

An orange.

Dying, son,

Is not like biting into

An apple, breaking easily

With a crunch

But your teeth sink into it

Dying can

Be like a bad pear

That kind of crumbles and

Youre so disappointed

Because that wasnt

What you wanted

At all.

That can happen when you die.


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Tears on the SidewalkTen years ofdim lightscast by flickering

candlesthrough muddled windowsTen years ofcries inmuted tonesfrom some roomback of the house.Plans she made asa sophomoric girldrawn like curtains.Ten years andshe walks awaya woman.


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SPECIALI see

stored in clay jars in

the depth of

Gods eyessentiments of blithe laughter.

She tore open the sky

to admire the deep planes

above, deep as thunder and

singing together,

as light skated down

her arms.

The cameras flash

goes benign. The

world has shrunk and

God continues in

quiet, quiet

laughter as

you touch His knee.


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Everything of Any Importance Goes in Small Tin BoxesHer dead eyes, only

alive in a matte finish, were the only

eyes that always

saw everygood thing about me, but will never

look ever

again, always

there beneath the bed

in a small tin box.


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If I W ere to Describe Our Relationship

A house Can be seenStanding all alone As

Fading yellow IA decaying porch Descend the stairsThe frame is rotting the paintChipping I close the front door Left to be forgotten I leave

A hallow attic dark andWeary cross beams dressed inWebs panel floor carpeted inDust

AloneInACorner stands a leather trunkTorn and weakFadingGreen likeLeaves on the vergeOf autumn

With a lock tarnishedWithout confidence

I touch the leatherCourse and tough the metalIs cold and dullA shake and no response AKnock or two and no answerGroping and searching but thereIs no way in I peer through the

Key hole to search the answerEmptyNothingMy heart sinks as IExit the roomOnly thePrints of my fee


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You and IWhy is fast never

fast enough?

Why is far neverfar enough?Why is dark never

dark enough?

I cant drive fast enoughto flee the face of you.

I will never be far enoughfrom you.

It will never be dark enough

to hide your eyes

I crossed the thresholdI peered through the window

but I still wonder what brings twopeople, you and I, to

a point at the same time.

Ive crossed too far.

Ive gone too deep.Ive got to go.

Fast is never fast enoughto flee the face of you.

Far is never far enoughfrom you.

The night will never be dark enoughto hide your eyes.


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Its Called IntimacyYou met the sharpest turn at forty-five miles per hourwithout a tense flinch or

tap of the breaks

You felt the rise and fall of the sidewalkbeneath your pounding feet

You walked around the room in the dead of night,listlessly evading the end table and passingthe wall without a second glance

You knew that voice as it laughs a floor belowYou knew that voice before you saw that face

You smelled the lingering scent of their favoritecigarette as it dances with that one brand oflaundry detergentthat you can name without seeing


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LOVE NOTESCrack and

tink

go the rocks

you propel againstmy window

to call me out

and disclose genuine love

rocks from my backyard, small

lava rocks you want

to call love notes.

I'll know you're sincere

when I hear a knockat the front door, or

the ring of the door bell

and then you

kiss me atop a

welcome mat.


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Kiss Me. Im DelicateA virgin day christened by the breaking light

Some muted roomshuddering in every breath he takes,not spoken, nor heard,but felt up and down everyfold in the linenin every fold of his flesh. Do I really know you?

Do you really want to know me?But there he is: naked in achimerical way.

He tasted like warm water last night.

I rest between the wallon my rightand a wall on my leftbut the lightor even him in his nakednessis just a hope;my hope that he will findme open

in a very real way.I waitfor him to findme in acorner of truthbecoming clearer tomy sight,solid to my touch,real to the sound

of my ears.My eyes shut tight.He wakes.I feel the firstmorning embrace.


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FableAnd I run my hand upon her waistswirling tofleshy hips

the perfect kind of indentbeginninga luscious paragraph with the kindof language that rises and fallspoignantas the story is toldin subtle movements withsupple kissesemphasizing parenthetical remarks

this reader would not wantto miss.Every pause to take in breathleads to a newsentence. The rules ofgrammar are rivenin the heat of the momentso I gripheras the plot thickens.

I am swept away intocolor reverberations.In my earnest interest Idiscover the next page:undiscovered dictionaries anda thesaurus etched out withher scrawling tongue.Spellbound, Im unwillingto turn away, replace her cover

until I have becomefamiliar withevery page,each inchof the story,this epic narrative.


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The Sound of a KissWind that sighs heavy

Water that laps gently

on a rocky shore.


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Sleep With MeCan I fall asleep in your arms tonight?

I need somewhere warm, a heartbeat

in my ear that is not my own.

Can you run your fingers through my

hair? Its thin on top but maybe tonight

you can pretend its full and soft. You can

pretend Im a beautiful person with indigo

eyes and innocence still written on my

face.

Then Ill fall asleep forgetting my sins, my

selfish demeanor and only remember to

forget.


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