It is difficult not to be confused
                           I have been defeated by many
                           Less beautiful (Sylvia)
                           Who found me not

                           Nor would she sail to Crete
                           For me nor our other lovers
                           Nor did she offer clear wine or Iris -

                                             Out on her own

                                         The dark
                                         Her shadow faint

                                           I must forget everyone:

                           Why she would not rather see my wanting face
                                  The cut light across the peach in my hand:
                           Rather the fat soldier exiled from Ithaca
                               Routed and scarred purple by Odysseus

                           ] may that she not return
                           ]
                           ] part my arms 
                          ]
                          ] outward
                          ]
                          ] expectant
 
 
 

31.
                          She is neither equal nor a god
                          She is perhaps most like you
                          Mute, overlooking the cliff
                                     There's no sugar on her tongue

                          A rasp for a whisper
                          Shakes nothing loose in my heart
                          I look away, desperate
                          Where is someone I can speak to?

                          Yes, the one with the pomegranate jewel
                          Bright red in her dark hair:
                          I am no longer blinded
                                    There are honey hives in my ear

                          A chill separates from my skin
                          Released, marble turns liquid
                                    Copper and white
                          If I look closely there is a bleeding

                          What cuts close to the bone
                          A swallow - kind - in the breathing.
 
 

Some Fragments: 

21. 
                           ]
                           ]charitable
                           ]flush
                                   ]
                           ]fresh skin, youth
                           ]open
                           ]quick
                           ]
                           ]
                           ]repellant 
                           ]without song 
                           ]flowerless
                           ]
                  Crimson bougainvillea outside the garden
                           ]rarely
                           ]
 

22.

                           ]sleep 
                           ]without a face
                           ]
                           ]
                           if yes, spring
                           ]birth
                           ]

                  ]She refuses song
                  no x or y, they throw down
                  their strings (not once)
                           rejection haunts her tongue

                  her absence. No ripple in her dress
                  nor chatter from her silver anklets. 
                  She suffers
                  because he insists
                  his body a stiff column of marble. 
                  Without a word
                  she refuses.
 
 

23. 
                           ]of lust lost
                           ]
                           ]once a swollen eye
                           ]unto you, Regina
                  ]the auburn in Eleanor I will not compare
                  ]
                  ]the singular, immortal ones also reject
                  ]not one iota in remorse
                  ]may you go quick and distant
                  ]a cracked lake bed 
                    [desert across the Libyan
 
 
 

24.A

                  ]
                  ]in old age 
                  ]she forgets
                               some things
                  ]
                  ]terrible 
                  ]
                  ]gone
                  ]

                  ]
 
 

24.C

                  ]
                  ]silent harmonies
                  ]
                  ]without shift
                                 [no
                  ]
                  ] 
                     [risk
                  ]
 

24.D

                  ]
                  ]
                  ]the rising, full arch
                  ]
                  ]
                  ]
 
 
 

25.

                  ]
                  ]joined
                  ]
                  ]impoverished choir
                  ] 
                  ]
                  ]
 

26.

                           ]time to time
                           ]against the few
                  Rudely rejected are the very ones
                                ]who love her
                           ]rational
                           ]
                           ]
                           ]
                           ]her, she refuses
                           ]cherish

                     ]why does she not
                     ignore this
                     ]
                     ]
                     ]
 

27.

                  ]
                  ]
                  ]
                  ]no, old man
                  ]don't speak
                  ]don't terrify us
                  ]the proximity  [death

                  Each fears a funeral. Do you
                  know this? Please, delay the calling,
                  tell the reaper to bury the iron tool

                  ]may we have new gods
                  ]men, women, children
                  fresh on the porch, above the step.
 
 

30.

                  ]noon

                  Guys
                  Morning to night
                  Refuse to take a look
                  Even with the lupine bushes in our hair
                  And the occasional slap you give me on the butt
                  We should take to a room and fall asleep
                  Or wrap our arms around the old man 
                  Already fast asleep, drunk on the City bench
                  ]
                  If there is a bird in anybody's pants
                  It's lost its beak.