"Sex Without Love" by Sharon Olds



A very literal use of "Unsuffer Me" by Lucinda Willams

 

Sex Without Love Responses

 

"Meditative Rose" by Salvador Dali

If it isn’t “making love” all the time, then change the name.
If it is possible to “make love” without love,

Then it’s kind of a misnomer, don’t you think?

I’ve never had sex without love.

Because when our hand as skating over each other’s bodies

Like rain drops gliding over a leaf or snow gently floating to kiss the land

We look into each other’s eyes and see a truth that is seldom found anywhere else.

That truth is profound as God.

We may fuck and suck only for one night, and hell, I might not even like you personally tomorrow.

But, there is one thing that is constant.

It may be that memory will serve as the only record, and it might be that it was only for that moment,

But I loved you forever.






"The Hug" by Schiele Egon

 It’s never without love.

It might only be for one night.

It’s in one night we have a connection.

We are as beautiful as dancers.

We dance together.
 
We find passion together.

What is found is purity.

What happens is profound as snow falling on Jesus’ head.

 

What we know is each other.

I pleasure him.

I know he pleasures me.

I see him as the world cannot.

He sees me as the world cannot.

Really, even if for one night, how can it not be love?



"My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke

My Papa's Waltz

In talking about word selection in poetry, I thought this was a wonderful poem in it's word choice because it evokes more than just cathartic emotion, it captures a feeling. If that sound pretentious, please just stick around a little longer and I'll try to explain myself.

Let's look at the first stanza:

"The whiskey on you breath
 Could make a small boy dizzy;
 But I hung on like death:
 Such waltzing was not easy."

Roethke really captures a feeling of looseness and a sense of being drunk incredibly well. You get a sense of the father being tipsy enough, but still slightly alert. It also creates an idyllic world to live in filled with dancing and it sounds fun.

There is also a distinct shift in tone, at least for me, in the last stanza:

"You beat time on my head
 With a palm caked hard by dirt.
 Then waltzed me off to bed
 Still clinging to your shirt."

I think this is the reality of the world creeping in, the world is still fun and carefree but there is a reminder of the world outside hard and dirty. We also see this in the third stanza with, "the hand that held my wrist/ was battered on one knuckle..." But, at least, in this moment it does not matter and all is well.

 

A Poem About Family. (In Response to "Begotten" by Andrew Hudgins)

I don’t believe that family is determined by genes.

It’s not the people speak like you, or look like you,

Or the people you used to see at family reunions.

After all,

There are people whose families throw you out for who you love

Or the grades you got,

Or the tattoo you got when they weren’t looking.

 There are families that touch you in places that, one day, will have to be shown on a doll,

Families that leave bruises on your body,

And, even worse, on your mind.

Sometimes, there are people you just straight up can’t bring yourself to like

Let alone, love or call relation.

I have friends whose friends are more a family then their blood will ever be.

They say that blood is thicker than water.

Well, maple syrup is thicker than blood,

And I’ve shared some pretty good pancakes with people other than my family.

See, we don’t get to choose our family.

But, we get to choose who treats us like a family.

We get to pick who brings us back down to earth,

Who tells us when we are just like that one star in the night sky,

Who holds our hair when we are too drunk to do it ourselves,

Who risks the flu to bring us chicken soup,

Who forgives us when we call them a “scum-sucking road whore.”

  Hopefully.

Who we forgive when tell us our point of view is “up our ass.”

Who tell us we are good enough.

Pancakes, stars, soup, “scum-sucking road whores,” and asses.

They are the people who make it all worth it.

That’s what family is made of.