quiet as it's kept
no one tells you about these boys : their quiet feminism
grows like wildflowers : in their mothers' gardens : you
should take a field
trip : i'm telling you : they are
like
architechtural flourishes
unseen
all about town : baroquing
libraries : finishing museums with clean modern lines : no
one tells you not to look past neat
in search of
shine
or brawn : the masculinity that winks and whistles at you
like times
square or roars and kicks up dust like a pick-up
truck : the open
secret of such sexiness has its charms :
but the boys who open doors for men
and
women : who
catch you watching them adjust
their glasses and eye you
a smile : no one tells you what such subtle signs can mean
: i'm telling you that these boys
flowering
flourishing
and their quiet twinkling eyes can spark enough heat to warm
you through a massachusetts winter : pools of melt making
mud of your footprints : behind you
the ice freezing silently
over your private spring
clare's song
blonde fair bleached faded pale pastel light
blameless clean guiltless innocent pure clear
anatomy build figure person physique form
complexion countenance hue mien tint cast
bead dab dash iota ounce spot trace drop
succeed answer do qualify suffice suit pass
authorization permit ticket license paper visa pass
effortless facile moderate smooth undemanding light
abandon dismiss disown quit reject renounce drop
jump leap hurdle negotiate surmount vault clear
actors artists characters company players roles cast
behavior conduct custom manner practice rite form
arrange assemble concoct create devise forge form
cross depart flow go move proceed travel pass
copy duplicate facsimile mold plaster replica cast
amusing blithe gay merry pleasing witty light
accumulate acquire gain net realize secure clear
decrease decline downturn reduction slump drop
bleed dribble leak ooze seep splash trickle drop
character class grade make species variety form
audible coherent distinct lucid plain precise clear
canyon cut gap gorge path opening ravine pass
airy buoyant delicate feathery unsubstantial light
emit diffuse radiate shed spray spread scatter cast
appoint assign choose designate name pick cast
abyss chasm descent dip plunge precipice drop
angle approach aspect attitude slant viewpoint light
application sheet chart questionnaire blank form
advance overture proposition approach play pass
absolute convinced decided satisfied sure clear
bare empty free stark vacant vacuous void clear
boot fling heave hurl launch project toss cast
predicament contingency crisis plight state pass
collapse duck flop tumble pitch plummet drop
format framework order scheme structure form
beacon bulb dawn flash ray shine torch light
model pattern fashion form appearance contour cast
luminous radiant clear sunny ablaze aglow light
ebb fade wane depart drop end die decease pass
—after nella larsen
Ekleksographia #2
July, 2009
Poems
Evie Shockley
Evie Shockley is the author of a half-red sea (Carolina Wren Press, 2006) and two chapbooks: 31 words * prose poems (Belladonna* Books, 2007) and The Gorgon Goddess (Carolina Wren Press, 2001). She co-edits the journal jubilat. Also a literary scholar, she is completing a book on black aesthetics and formal innovation in African American poetry. She teaches African American literature and creative writing at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.