In the springtime when the irises begin to blossom

                              or...

                  Late in the summer

                    when every verdure is thirsty

                   for the kiss of rain

            Or when fall is coercing the trees to become naked

                              coating the earth with a multitude of colors

                and...

                              the winter night skies are opulent with stars I...

               Voluntarily, in all seasons,

                              surrender to you.

 

                 Every drop of rain that

 

                     descends from my body

                              longs to

                              shower your flora and perfume

                              your skin.

 

                              I...

                              Yearn for your touch

                              and long to

                              Open my petals

                              as you exhaust me with your love,

                              Until I fall into your arms

                              Knowing your love has sated all of me.

 

                              Oh!my sweet,

                              you have

                              Allured me into your seasons

                              and became my

                              Revelation of love.

                              Let me frolic in the seasons of your emotions,

                              As I confess my love

                              for you...

                              to you...

                              in all seasons.

Valentine                    

When I am being eaten

by the day’s florescent moths

and the unbidden noise

blares louder than Broadway neon

and the bills & balances

scream my incompetence

and the hours dwindle away

unused for anything good,

 

I long for your skylight

with its moon

blooming in the corner

and bits of stars scattered

like a handful of found change,

and its midnight blue

always open to let us in

or out or under

and time spills

as we do

into each other

from a bottomless cup.

 

Take away music, poetry,

& the world would choke on itself,

not knowing the maneuvers

for saving its life--

 

Take you away,

and a word in all languages

with its multiple meanings

would vanish, its ghost

would always be at the

tip of our tongue,

 

Take you away,

with your magic window,

and a note from the scale

would disappear,

all the songs and tunes

sonatinas and symphonies

would have a gap like the piano

with its broken key;

and everyone would always

be straining to hear again

what it sounded like,

always listening

for you.

 

 

Long Distance Valentine

 

Sometimes it seems we’re losing the thread,

It’s not that the love is dead,

I need to see your face,

It’s not that it’s been erased,

I just need to hear you speak,

It seems your voice is getting weak—

This can happen when the words

slip away before they’re even heard,

and when before we share the day

all the best has gone away—

I need to feel your arms—

don’t be too alarmed,

I need to feel your breath,

not just to keep from death--

but there’s more to alive and well--

I need to smell your smell,

that rings me like a bell,

like roses in hell

casting a sweet spell—

I need to be consumed

by your own perfume--

I need your magnet lips

to catch me in their grip

and join us at the hip,

and to hold them tightly there

for at least a year—

I need you warm and deep

and against me while I sleep,

but most of all I need to hear

that you love me more each year

and I’ll always be your dear,

as you will be mine, and I do, no fear—

but if  you can’t  find a way

to say all of that,

there are many ways one can entwine

with a long distance valentine—

if you’re befuddled

and your heart has a flat,

there’s always a book, a glove, or a hat…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adrienne J.  Maher

 

Love Affair with Cheese

 

It all started so innocently

 

American on white bread

 

Toasted in the broiler

 

Moved onto cheddar

 

With gingersnaps on each side

 

Next thing I knew it was brie

 

With apples and wine

 

Then crumbles of bleu

 

Atop my endive

 

Oh, cheese, wonderful cheese

 

In thee I do believe

 

(By Dorothy Stewart)

 

 

 

 

The Cheesemonger Weeps (a sestina)

I accidentally slipped into a life of cheese
a world of roped provolone, bandaged cheddar, and perforated veins of blue.
intentional and unintentional mold.
Hours of weigh-
ing. Days of wrap-
ping, months and years in a smelly store.

I didn’t think I had this in store
growing up on Velveeta and processed cheese
canned fruit, white bread and all that crap.
There are times I wonder if I blue
it, repeating the same tasks, answering foodie questions, and feeling the weigh-
t of routine and the cast of the mold

"Christ, sometimes I really feel I’m old,"
I say, But no one wants to hear my store-
y. They want the tale of the farmer not the weigh-
t of the world with their purchase of cheese.
A retail worker feeling blue
Is dereliction of duty, and excuse to shop elsewhere, a trap.

Which is why I’ve learned to do my rap
Numb, half awake, scarred, mold
on my hands, stinking of blue.
But with no one smelling for it. Store-
ing my real life away like cheese
un-aired. It’s the only way.

Yeah, the only way
In this fucking city which wrap-
s you up in debt and makes you work too much. Cheese
can make you a living in a town where all the apartments are full of mold
but cost more than a mortgage or a store
in any sane place. "Blue?"

my co-worker asks, noticing my mood. "No actually, not really. It’s just that blue-
my rinds and Mondays always bring me down. The whey can weigh
on me. The pungent gets redundant. The store
gets sore." Mongering and bad jokes go together like rap
and beets, like rock and mold.
Oh, cheese…

But focusing on the pain gives my daily world of dairy a bad rap.
The rinds, the crumbles, the crystals, the mold,
weirdly, accidentally, I have come to love the cheese.
 

Gordon Edgar

http://gordonzola.net/

Although I prefer my curd with some mold

I also enjoy cheeses: young and old

Don't get in the whey

I want no delay

As my cheesemonger just announced "it's sold"