Purple Sestina
From the first I found you, baby
wafting wallowing in my world—
a scintillate, alternating into electric.
I was left alone with my limbs
leaning on bald shoulders of a naked
Chinese wall, unglued and reformed.
I am a monkey man reformed
into the cooing picture of a baby
at suck from your body-naked,
my grasp unanswered by your world.
Each dimple of my doughy limbs,
starved neurons frantic-electric.
Have you heard of the ghost electric
trapped in the stone church reformed,
its jingly jangly dangling limbs
soft and tender as a baby?
Perhaps, you know nothing of the world
as you lie to me, lie with me naked.
Or perhaps, naked
my experience electric
is beyond your icy world.
You left me hot and reformed
as a hunk of dung, baby,
a steaming Hebrew Golem, its reachy limbs
gesturing mutely for your limbs—
your limbs frightened and naked
your limbs, like a baby
that curl my hair with fingers electric.
I descend to alluring Earth reformed,
though knowing nothing of your world.
Her body is a cafe of the world.
By these inarticulate fingers and limbs,
I seek her, I seek to be reformed,
a tongue firing a kiln wet and naked,
the shock winter skin electric,
arriving to her arms a baby.
What’s become of the baby, reformed
as the watery world, a fish naked
and electric, a delta’s creeping limbs?
12 thoughts on "Purple Sestina"
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Manny,
You are writing your tail off to end the month.
Wow!!!!
thank you brother man.
we all are. poetry in Kentucky is best from June 23-30!!!
Agree with both of you, the community swells creative!
Love “starved neurons frantic-electric.”
the heat drying up our brains!!! Thank you Pam.
Wow, rich poem! Really great!
thank you Jerielle, means a lot
Manny, I’m seriously blown away by this poem. It took so much skill to pull it off successfully. I’ve never attempted to write a sestina! I’m not sure I ever will. The subject matter and language excel. Bowing to you.
You can do it. It’s a puzzle within a puzzle–like obsession. That thing you can’t stop thinking about locked inside a frazzle of cogently organized words. Thank you for reading it my friend.
Not very inclined to. I’d rather just admire what you’ve done for now. I am trying my hand at a few sonnets 🙃
You know I’m a fan. Amazing the places this goes.
Terrific sestina! I agree with Coleman—you’ve done some of your best work this month.
Wonderful end-words! And you are brilliant with form. This is so visceral- such intense imagery, right down to the final lines: “a fish naked / and electric”.