diálogo brusco / abrupt dialog

tell them I’m going.

“where to?  and why?”

he looks off into the distance
it’s like his tongue
is shriveling in his mouth
but then:

I’m going, going to find
that place where they ask not
“who” or “why” or “how much” –
where they say just
Welcome!  Welcome!

*    *   *

(c) Gregory V Driscoll  2013

Filología de cariño / Philology of endearment – a poem in Spanish with English translation

Existe entre amantes
un lenguaje silencioso,
un idioma en toques de manos,
en guiños y cejas arqueadas,
en palabras formadas sin voz,
sin sonido alguno,
a través de tiempo,
a través de distancia;

una lengua de memorias,
de comidas compartidas,
del beber vino en la cama;

un vocabulario de regocijos,
de esperanzas de acuerdo,
de deseos prometidos y cumplidos;

una sinopsis de modismos,
en besos libertinos,
en caricias duraderas,
en sentidos llenos de su amante;

una gramática de férvidos abrazos,
de entrelazadas piernas,
de manos placenteras y vivaces,
de píes que mueven
por sábanas aromáticas;

una dicción de dedos en pesquisa,
de labios mojados,
de rodillas que aprietan;

unos sinónimos de síncopa carnal,
de zumos mezclados,
de piel que brilla en las sombras.

Por cierto existe entre amantes
esta sintaxis de vivir
desenvuelta.

*    *   *

(translation)

Between lovers there exists
a silent language,
a discourse in touches of hands,
in winks and raised eyebrows,
in words formed without voice,
with no sound at all,
across time,
across distance;

a language of memories,
of meals shared,
of drinking wine in bed;

a vocabulary of rejoicing,
of hopes in accord,
of desires promised and fulfilled;

a précis of idioms,
in wanton kisses,
in lasting caresses,
in senses filled with the lover;

a grammar of fervid claspings,
of interlaced legs,
of pleasing and lively hands,
of feet that move
over aromatic sheets;

a diction of fingers exploring,
of wet lips,
of knees pressing;

synonyms of fleshly syncopation,
of fluid energies well mixed,
of skin shining in the shadows.

Yes.  Yes, between lovers there is
this self-assured syntax of living.

*    *   *

(c) Gregory V Driscoll  2012

reeds in the wind (for Gene D.)

mustachioed traveler through time and distance,
haunter of shebeens, with brandy dreams.
I saw you dancing on the moors
with lasses in full-length mist,
the fiddler moon howling through the night,
pheasant peering through the fine fingers of the tall
grass to see you kiss, first, those lasses’ hands
and then — I flew away!

*    *   *

(c) Gregory V Driscoll  2012

wintry bloom

Rare snow rose sealed in bright silence
like starlight that warms the night
despite the distance and the time;
snow rose sealed now and forever
in my stark verse – you warm this heart of mine.

*    *   *

(c) Gregory V Driscoll  2012

On hearing, years afterward, of Roberta’s death

First met in our salad days,
she was one dearest, one most hotly loved.
First, time and distance sundered us.
Now, the fiat of death drops a pall between us.

Mind of wonder, voice of songbirds,
forthright heart open with untrammeled love
for all the world; mouth of red rose,
strawberry breasts, thighs lithe as wind –
now all for me mere memories.
Such images take their substance
from one who exceeded all praise.
To her they compare as would
wrecked petals, sere fruit, a desolate sigh.

Her youth and her beauty’s shadow
haunt the angry silence of my tired heart.

*      *     *

(c) Gregory V Driscoll   2011

In the distance

Before that day, that hour unknown
with its stark guilelessness,
its silent mindlessness,
there’ll be another and another,
dancing or running or singing,
walking quickly or sitting calmly,
drinking, laughing, snoring,
kissing, touching, extending
from this hour or two when we sit
trading stories, bartering visions,
swapping images and phrases
while the runner, during a pause,
hands out keen remembrances
of all our childhoods, and we bite
into their hardness, their sweetness,
their substance receding like galaxies
quickly and more quickly until they are
barely sensible in the distance…

*           *           *

© Gregory V Driscoll 2011