NARRATIVE | POETRY | EROTICA
With Intent
Narrative Poetry — Rekindled Passion
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Shame rules them, tight-fisted as madmen, If only they hadn’t met. Again. If their eyes hadn’t scanned the room. In boredom. If they hadn’t spotted one another, smiled, looked away and then looked again. But they had. Memories returned, gushing: First love. Senior High dance. The almost-night of initial intercourse. The stalemate. The held-back desires; too young. Their decision: to start again, anew. A well thought-out plan, articulately managed. But this time slow, in lingered stages. First friendship: close, yet remote, no lips melting into stirred embers, their bodies strained, controlled. But as friends, they could at least be seen. Longingly, they resist. He with wife and child, she with a lover of her own: they pretend, act as though nothing could or would happen. But longing leads to curious glances, two sets of lapis eyes that lock in suspicious reflections. And soon temptation consumes, smolders in flames of blue ice, engulfs their bodies in accidental brushings, good-bye hugs that sojourn seconds too long, and the sudden run-ins at unfamiliar restaurants; both surprisingly alone. Friendship is no longer enough to satiate rapid desire. They take the next step: meet thirty miles from home, in a sleazy motel with torn polyester sheets and porn flicks on the tube. And they kiss, the first tangible kiss, lips interlocked as seconds tick into hours of seductive exploration, tongues feast on neck and chin and lower lip. Hands nervously loosen buttons and clasps. Sweaty palms venture into unknown valleys, flatlands and pearly lakes. Driven, they initiate sacrifices, offer innermost bouquets of hyacinths to the gods. And then they part, back to the real world to lover and wife, to jobs and responsibilities. And always, when threat of daily life consumes them, they flee to one another; ashamed and hidden.
©1996–2020 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.
This is another poem that has gone through many revisions since I initially wrote it in 1996 for a course in Narrative Poetry. Except for my professor and classmates at the time, this poem hasn’t been read by anyone else in all these years, until now.
Here is the other Narrative Poem:
Lori Carlson writes poetry, fiction, articles and personal essays. Most of her topics are centered around Relationships, Spirituality, Life Lessons, Mental Health, and the LGBTQ+ community. She currently writes for Illumination,💜The POM💜 , The Friday Fix, House of Haiku, Know Thyself, Heal Thyself, The Purple Pen, Tempest in Under 1000, The Weekly Knob, The Rebel Poets Society, Heart Revolution, Share the Love, Spiritual Tree, Soul & Sea, and Written Tales.