poemography Lines from the Sensual Side
Steve Garrett
poemography
1
First Impression 2013 Copyright Steve Garrett 2013
Steve Garrett has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this Work.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the Author.
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Steve Garrett
culturalconcerns@onetel.com www.stainless-steve.me.uk 07814 770450
To get regular free ‘Tw*oems’ (Twitter poems) follow Steve on @stainlesssteeve Cover design: Steve Garrett 2013 2
CONTENTS A LOVE OF VEGETABLES Five A Day
5
C Love
6
A Fruit?
7
No Iceberg
8
Heart Choked
9
A Stand
10
SHORTS Out On a Limb
11
Raising The Dead
11
Deep Feeling
12
Fertile Ground
12
Recollections
13
Hand Dancing
13
One Night Stand
14
A Promise
14
THE REST Trojan Woman
15
First Loves
16
Who Do I Love?
17
Silence is Golden
18
Match of the Night
19
Aftermath
20
Simple As
21
Green Fingers
22
On Safari
23 3
Main Course
24
For Ms T.
25
Shackleton’s Dream
26
Puppy Love
27
Being Prepared
28
Springing
29
Treasure Hunt
30
Unrequited
31
Stains
32
Easy
33
Deep Diving
34
Snow Leopard
35
Just Do It!
36
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A LOVE OF VEGETABLES
Five A Day
She grasps my rich thickness and gently pulls me out. Relishing the length and rich colour, puts me in her mouth and ever so gently bites. The firm flesh at first resists then gives way with a spurt of flavour. She swallows, hungrily, loving each lick.
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C Love I love your bulbousness, your swollen bottom full of fragility, firmness, and secret mystery; the smooth whiteness of your curvaceousness. Tears of affection well up as I gently split you open. How can I live without you now? You are under my skin. Your delicate strength, and heaven’s scent, stay with me always.
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Fruity? I am caught, amazed by your incredible redness spread open in front of me. Fleshy and delicate, juices glistening, eager to be imbibed by my moistened lips as they push forward in urgent expectation. Your wetness is astonishing. Where could it all come from? Such ripeness, incredibly contained within your taut skin, bursting out at the moment of opening, with a sudden flood that I drink until satiated.
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No Iceberg Your head goes straight to mine. My kissful lips graze hungrily, and gentle bites release your delicate succulence. I follow my tender tongue as your folds within folds part softly to let me through to the very heart of you.
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Heart Choked Holding you gently but firmly, sensing your shy compliance, I undress you slowly; ripe and inviting , tender and sensual. I continue to remove your gentle protections, replete with wonder at what is revealed cradled there when I push aside your final faint resistance. Nestling, moist and succulent, unspeakably soft and yielding, truly this is the hidden heart of you, the most intimate part of you, aching to meet my mouth and dissolve into me.
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A Stand It seemed to come from nowhere. Now standing upright with a fragile firmness. Almost absurdly proud of itself and replete with resolve. A sap filled stem tipped with velvet gentleness, pushing quickly and insistently to bring new life into the world. A life–filled force for renewal and reincarnation.
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SHORTS
Out on a Limb A stiff branch quivers. Blossom showers over you. Fragrance fills the air.
Raising the Dead You slide in my soul, and put your flesh on my bones which stand up and dance.
11
Deep Feeling The cry from your cave calls my lion-heart to come roaring inside you.
Fertile Ground You make love to me. The gentle rain of your touch makes my desert bloom. A warm sun rises, illuminating everything.
12
Recollections The scent on my fingers continues to linger evoking sweet recollections of your thighs and your sighs.
Hand Dancing Your hand dances while a pink tongue-tip peeks from both pairs of your parted lips.
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One Night Stand Rise and shine. Ebb and flow. Give and take. Come ‌ and go.
A Promise This is my promise. I won’t f a l l in love with you. I will stand in love!
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THE REST
Trojan Woman I learned about battlements at an early age. When the time came, I built my castle on a hilltop, with a drawbridge for welcome guests; a portcullis to block unknown arrivals; and a catapult to eject the unwanted. Timing is everything in love’s inexplicable encounters. When you came knocking, a Trojan woman radiating grace and fragrance, offering irresistible gifts, one look was all it took. I dismantled my defences, wide-opened all doors and gladly surrendered my solitude; using the stones from my fallen walls to build a tall tower where we made love and planned journeys to distantly spied horizons.
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First Loves Eros is dancing in the snow-tinselled trees today. Beckoning my attention, she pours liquid gold of winter sun and invites me to stop and surrender to a deep remembering; my first loves were the earth and sky, and despite my betrayals they still wait naked for me.
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Who Do I Love? The bad one; the mad one; the sometimes can be sad one. The smart one; the sharp one; the loves-it-from-the-start one. The kind one; the mind one; the beautiful behind one. The real one; the heals one; the likes-to-cop-a-feel one. The strong one; the ‘wrong’ one; the knows-where-she-belongs one. Not ... The good one; the ‘eould’ one; the doing-what-she-should one.
17
Silence is Golden I long to wrap your she-cret softness around the firm fact of my feelings. Lost for words, our mouths otherwise engaged, for once. Tongues hungry, arms everywhere, and no holes barred in a synchronicity of senses.
18
Match of the Night Let’s play! I promise a level field. You kick off; dribble around me as much as you want. I‘ll only offer token resistance and you’ll always be on-side. Try any kicks you like! There are no rules, and no penalties. Handball is permitted. My tackle will be friendly, and if I take a dive it will be to keep the game exciting for both of us. I’ll put my balls in your net whenever you want. Just don’t let me score too soon. The game would have to stop for rest and refreshments, and the only thing getting blown would be the final whistle.
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Aftermath I wake with honeysuckle thoughts trailing over the trellis of my shadowy consciousness; arms still aching to hold you. Now, with all pain relieved, only sweetness remains while memories of you infuse me. I long to contain you and be contained. To kiss and caress you, succour you and set you free.
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Simple As Deciding Inviting Colliding Not hiding Sliding Gliding Rough riding Providing Delight in Delighting Not fighting Feel right in All night in
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Green Fingers I plant myself deep in your dark garden repeatedly. Minutes become meaningless as the seasons of our senses roll on with their own mystical rhythm under love’s relentless caress; until heaven meets earth in a fantastic flowering.
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On Safari I yearn to travel deep into your jungle; visit places no man has seen; stumble upon shameless blooms which seduce me with their ecstatic openings, and find a clearing where I can take rest; discover new life forms in hidden crevices, and revel in the calls of wild birds as they take flight in you. Burrowing deep into your undergrowth, I’ll find caves hiding precious stones in need of polishing, and wait patiently for the shyest creatures to emerge. Then, pushing my way to your hidden spring, I’ll drink my fill, entwined by orchids, before finally emerging, smiling and tongue tied.
23
Main Course I am eating you with my eyes. The starter is your plump mouth, swollen lips softy opening to reveal a pink slipperiness as your tongue darts and hides. Suddenly I realise you are reading my mind. I give you my hand and wordlessly we head bed-wards, to make a proper meal of it.
24
For Ms T. I wanted to dive from the sky with you, feeling light as dandelion down; full of faith in a shared future; sure that the wind would carry us together to exceptional destinations. And that if gravity pulled us earthwards, we’d bounce back; exhilarated and eager to fly up again for yet another lovers’ leap. But you choose (very sensibly) to keep both feet firmly on the ground.
25
Shackleton’s Dream Your eyes, burnished in the fire of fearlessness, reflect my projections back to me until they come barking at my door, like wolves from the wilderness. I pacify and recruit them to pull my sled through frozen waves, drawing ever nearer to the magnetic attraction of my own true north.
26
Puppy Love Like a young dog bounding though buttercups glowing gold in late afternoon sun I retrieved the verbal sticks you tossed with such insouciance; fetched each treasure to you, tail wagging wildly with fragile pride, but was unable to give them back; trapped in anxious ambivalence between the wish to please and the fear of letting go.
27
Being Prepared Your smile launches a wind blown ship inside me; sails unfurled and ready to head for far flung horizons. There is no map for this journey. We must surrender to time and tides, and trust in the sea to feed us; ready for evasive action if any icebergs are encountered.
28
Springing My heart was in your mouth as I entered the unknown, with tenderness and trepidation. I have weathered many seasons but remain in awe of how my chilled and hidden innerness thawed under your warming sun, scattering specks of suspended life which burst into tumescent celebration; taking root and pushing skyward, to yield fruits of effortless abundance.
29
Treasure Hunt I have a heart-on for you wild woman of the world; tender girl who nestles into the safety of my embrace; wise woman, who nurtures her secret garden and treads there carefully; adventurer who heads for the hills, leading others to share the special treasures buried there.
30
Unrequited I showed you mine but you wouldn’t show me yours. I dug words from deep places, and arranged them in front of you; you smiled wanly and walked past. I piled my stall high with fresh fruits; you picked them over, and bought elsewhere. I put on my best clothes and sang sentimental songs under your balcony; you gave me a wave, then closed the curtains. I dissected myself in front of you, and labelled my vital organs; but you skipped biology that day. I picked fragrant flowers and placed them at your door; you opened your window to let in their scent then left them to wither. I strutted my stuff on the dance floor hoping to catch your eye; but you left early. Finally it was time to have it out with you, (in a manner of speaking). I took my deepest breath and declared my undiminished desire. You said you liked me well enough; just not in ‘that’ way.
31
Stains Like maps to newly discovered countries, the stains of love recall journeys made and secrets revealed. Souvenirs to remind us where, and how, we came; each one a testament to adventure or accident. Some are mementos of past passion. Some hide, forgotten, to be encountered at inappropriate moments.
32
Easy Learning to love is like learning to ride a bike. When you climb on and your centre of gravity slides, there is a safe hand to hold you. But many never dare, and stand on the sidelines, cheering or jeering; harbouring and hiding their secret dreams. Here’s what I learned: when there is the risk of falling, we can realise that: “The only thing to fear... is fear itself.” (Benjamin Franklin said that.) So “Ride on, man... Ride on!” (I said that.)
33
Deep Diving I dive into your smiles (the horizontal and the vertical) and, holding my breath, hit bottom. An oyster waits patiently there for its sea-stroked shell to be cunningly cracked, and its pearl picked.
34
Snow Leopard A cave-cry of longing escapes you; uncontainable. It entwines and binds me. Here is a beauty no lens can capture, nor mirror contain. When you, opening, show me your whole.
35
Just Do It Will you dare to dive? Or just stand chicken-quivering on the side, looking on with longing at the ecstatic entwinings in front of you? It’s time to J U M P! Surrender, and you will not sink. But if the dead weight of doubt drags you down, just affirm an unconditional ‘Yes!’ to be carried up into the light again.
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Steve Garrett
(a.k.a. musician Stainless Steve)
Dedicated to all lovers, and all who have been loved. I hope these smiling celebrations of sensuality will encourage readers to take the time to know, love and enjoy themselves and each other.
‘Steve Garrett's poems are a luscious entwining of food and body, hunger and lust.’
Carole Burns: senior lecturer in creative writing, writer, journalist, and critic.
‘I actually laughed out loud on the train! So good.’ Laurie Penny: journalist, author,
Contributing Editor at The New Statesman
Price: £5
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