 | Poetry to Swoon ForMonday, February 29th, 2016 |
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The Floating Poem, Unnumbered
By Adrienne Rich
Whatever happens with us, your body
will haunt mine — tender, delicate
your lovemaking, like the half-curled frond
of the fiddlehead fern in forests
just washed by sun. Your traveled, generous thighs
between which my whole face has come and come —
the innocence and wisdom of the place my tongue has found there —
the live, insatiate dance of your nipples in my mouth —
your touch on me, firm, protective, searching
me out, your strong tongue and slender fingers
reaching where I have been waiting years for you
in my rose-wet cave — whatever happens, this is.
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This poem was first published in 1971 in the collection Twenty One Love Poems, which is now so highly regarded (and evidently out of print) that it is being sold on Amazon for $125.
But I’m hooked. So what’s a girl to do? Well. I’ll buy it for myself, of course! I’ve also added a more reasonably-priced collection by Ms Rich to my gift list. Who is going to make me happy?
