Happy Valentine's Day!

Bachata

(For Nadia)

After every party in our house
when the reggae, reggaeton, R&B
have exhausted the younger couples,
and they sit separately to cool down,
I want to dance with you,
the way our friends, Miguel and Ramona,
who have made a promise,
that despite their struggle
with lawyers, bill collectors, and cancer,
they will never leave each other,
and whenever the bachata begins--
we stop to watch how
he will catch her--
she spins out of his arm’s reach
they pass like strangers,
but then his hand
finds the small of her back,
her legs quiver to the old music,
and they are partners in time
with the rhythm, once more.

***

Free Valentine's Day Ebook from Peepal Tree Press

Peepal Tree Press has a belated Valentine's Day gift for poetry lovers--a FREE ebook available in EPUB (iPad, Nook, Kobo and Adobe Digital Editions)  MOBI (Kindle), and PDF formats. 

Poems for Valentine's Day includes the work of contemporary Caribbean poets, many of whom have been featured on this blog:

Opal Palmer Adisa

Edward Baugh

Jacqueline Bishop

Christian Campbell

Kwame Dawes

Marcia Douglas

Kendel Hippolyte

Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming

Shara Mccallum

Mark Mcwatt

Geoffrey Philp

Velma Pollard

Jennifer Rahim

Dennis Scott

Tanya Shirley

Dorothea Smartt

Ralph Thompson

Aza Weir‐Soley

Here's the link: 

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/A-Valentine-from-Peepal-Tree-Press----free-poetry-e-book.html?soid=1101704465966&aid=YXCEGqfZDr0

Enjoy!

"My Crazy Valentine" by Geoffrey Philp

I could tell you stories about morning skies
That held trees wider than the span
Of your arms, but this would be a lie.
For you would prefer tales about hurricanes
That split hulls, rip masts like kites,
dreams trapped in rotting galleys
splintered on the skin of limestone. 

I could tell you fables from deep in the earth
Circular as caverns that reach upward to slivers
Of light. But you'd prefer tales dark as the stains
Of pomegranates on my fingers that awaken
The desire of fruit bats from soundless berths,
Red as the hunger that drives them into the night.

Happy Valentine's Day (2011)

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Valentine's Day Poem: "I Burn for What my Heart Desires"

After reading Kristen McHenry’s post, “obscure poets: ‘the only way out is through’: the life and poems of akka mahadevi,” I was intrigued by the poem, “Show Me Your Way Out,” and the line: “I burn/desiring what the heart desires,” so I decided to write my variation on “Show Me Your Way Out":

I burn for what my heart desires

The warmth of her flesh lays claim,

Renews what's left of my broken frame.

How do I put out a world on fire,

Hate my joys out of fear and shame?

I burn for what my heart desires

Her laughter has proved me a liar.

I surrender to her lips that call my name

To a bed that sets our bodies aflame.

I burn for what my heart desires.

***

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day 2008

¿Como se dice eso?

(for Nadia)

¿Como se dice eso? How do I

say this? The hollow feel of the pillows

against the headboard as familiar as the green

of St. Ann, el calor del mar de Progreso, the cold

pews of Sacre Coeur, lost as the light

in these photographs, like the taste

of the small hairs under your navel?

¿Como se dice eso? How do I say

this? I will never go back

to those canefields that share

the mockingbird's trill with my grandfather’s

voice that has become one with the fog

rising over the fishing boats before the moon

covers herself behind mountains

as far away as your body from mine.

¿Como se dice eso? How do I say this?

That I have lied to you, lied to myself,

and I've learned this awful truth--

that heaven is everywhere,

For I have known these places:

the way the light gilds the altar of Sacre

Coeur, the way guava trees in St Ann hold

the morning dew on the backs of their leaves

the way dolphins at Progreso swam with us

into the ocean; the way I have loved your body.

***

Global Voices : Valentine's Day Poetry Contest

Global Voices is sponsoring a Valentine's Day Poetry Contest

Click on the heart for the guidelines.

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Valentine's Day
Poetry
poem
poetry contest
Global Voices Poetry Contest

Valentine's Day Podcast

In honor of St. Valentine's Day, here is the poem, "easy skanking". The poem was first published in xango music.

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