once
we spent all day in bed
exploring without maps
deep diving
and emerging
to kindle more desires
lighting forest fires
now
we warm our hands
on the embers
of our fading skin
basking in the afterglow
Kim M. Russell, 20th November 2018
My response to dVerse Poets Pub Tuesday Poetics: Desire and Sexuality in Poetry, also linked to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Tuesday Platform
This Tuesday we are welcoming Anmol (HA) as our host. He has given us plenty to read and think about on the topic of desire and sexuality in poetry, including poetry from Sappho, Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath.
Anmol reminds us that our desires, and our expression of who we are as individuals, matter. He asks us to reflect on our desires and identities, and how one affects the other, perhaps seek inspiration from the examples he has shared, and link up our own poems, which can be romantic, sensual and sexual, erotic, political or philosophical, outrageous or perplexing.
Really fantastic Kim!!! But wen we explore without maps, someone’s bound to stick a finger….in north wales….lol. This was very hot and now I am basking in the afterglow of your writing!!!
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Thank you so much for reading and commenting. You made me smile.
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The intensity is still there, thought the flames aren’t as flamboyant.
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🙂
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Oh we go from that intensity into a slow glow… but maybe that’s still ok…
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🙂
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Lovely you very subtly expressed the lapse in time through the imagery of fire. Our fading skin basking in the afterglow… brilliant!
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Thank you, Tanya.
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Our bodies were a perfect fit in afterglow we lay
My lady of the island,
Thanks Graham
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🙂
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Where I live, sometimes the end of the day is the hottest part.
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🙂
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Nice description of exploring without maps.
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Thanks Frank.
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Kim- you captured aging and desire so beautifully.
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Thank you, Linda.
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A sweet write! But I remember that day.
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🙂
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Love that you decided to explore sexuality amongst an older couple, and your metaphor of forest fires transitioning to embers is really evocative.
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Thank you, Jade.
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I think the embers and after-glow of a long relationship are more of a prize than the early rapture. Love that stays. Sigh. So lovely.
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Thank you, Sherry.
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Yes, love has its seasons, and when lust turns to trust, then love blossoms like a desert succulent, and remains deep rooted and hardy as the calendar pages fall like years in the wind.
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🙂
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Oh so beautiful ❤️
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Thank you, Christine! 🙂
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Such a contrast between then and now as we grow older. Still, that loving relationship is there, and that is the most essential item.
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So true, Grace.
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Oh this is incredibly romantic, Kim! ❤️ I love that closing image 😀
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Thank you so much, Sanaa. 🙂
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your poem resonates with me and the photo captures the afterglow so well
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Thank you, Jade.
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So beautiful, Kim, in how you evoke the histories of this intimacy through the change from forest fires to the afterglow of one. I really loved this line: “we warm our hands/on the embers/of our fading skin”. It made me sigh with a feeling of contentment and hope. ❤
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Thank you, Anmol. When we are young and full of passion we don’t understand the beauty of mature relationships.
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Love this Kim – wonderful metaphor for mature love.
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Thank you, V.J.
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You are welcome.
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This is a fun activity for doing in bed. Your poem should set imaginations afire, it got mine going good.
..
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Thank you, Jim!
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Desire is eternal I find.
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🙂
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exploring without maps — there is so much in this innocent-looking line. so well done!
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Thank you!
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you’re welcome!
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I remember those early days. Love it
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Yes. The flame transmutes, eating through the passionate wood to the more abundant embers.
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This was both enticing, and wonderful fun Kim… restoking and fanning embers to flame is exquisite joy… 🙂
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Thank you, Rob. 😊
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This is passion that knows itself! So delicious, Kim.
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😁💖🌹
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your embers have blown in the wind to reach all the way to the equator Kim, I am basking in the lovely after glow of reading this magnificent poem of a passionate union.
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That is such a lovely commenting, Gina, thank you so much.
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This is a truly lovely piece, Kim.
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Thank you, Kerry.
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I love what you’ve done here. This is so sensual and mature.
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🙂
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