JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

I’m replacing reticence with roses

petal parted mother of pearl

cool breeze on a morning counterpane

I’m replacing wavering with words

tracing moisture from breast to down

 

Yes I know you fold your toothpaste

tubes to neatly overlapping  squeezes

with your modesty for Milton mostly

meaningless meanderings lost between

sibilants and sighs and I don’t mind

 

Your folded timetable, the corner of

your missing childhood lost in cloistered

gardens, tilling forbidding soil until

your fingers bleed. I don’t mind your

tear scarred notebook, your locket

with a bird chained in its heart

 

My phrases lighting now like sequins

all flambé in the murmurs of your gown,

I’m replacing reticence with roses

silence tumbles blushing as our petals join