- Non-Erotic Poetry
- Graduation Photograph, 1965
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At eighteen, in her uniform
of dark sweater and slim gold necklace,
she looks as proper as an unused
toothbrush still sealed in plastic.
Yet in just two years she will open
her legs to nervous young men
or take them joyously into her mouth
before they depart for Canada or Vietnam.
It is almost as though a corpse, pale
in its careful cosmetics and neat hair,
were to rise from its coffin to figure
just what this Life thing is all about.
- COMMENTS
Anonymousalmost 9 years agoEighteen and pale
with a slender thread of gold
Years have passed, filled with life
but somehow feels cold?
Days go on, and on, and on
turning weeks to months to years
Life was lived, and choices made
that may have wrung some tears
Legs were spread,and seeds were sewn
sometimes yielding fruit
the strongest may not always survive
but survivors make that moot
Life must be lived and fought for
under dim, or brighter stars
Memories can sometimes help
but often harden into scars.
IMTurner © (what can I say....picked this idea up from you! Keep writing!)
greenmountaineeralmost 9 years agoI don't think my earlier comments about sex and war did justice to how the poem triggered my imagination. I spoke about contrast, but what could be more so than "making war" and "making love," the latter being the impression you left me with at the conclusion.
greenmountaineeralmost 9 years agoI too graduated in '65, Ellen. For that reason, it was more evocative than provocative for me. It's interesting how you combined sexuality and war, very original and smart.
Just a thought: I might have used 'Nam instead because that's what the soldiers called it back then, and followed it with an extra line to further contrast it with those departing for Canada who, as you know, we're pretty much considered cowards, rather than conscientious objectors, at least in '65. Maybe this is more than you intended, but I also thought a little more emphasis on the soldiers would have contrasted well with your uniform (parochial high school?) and you're "coming back from the dead" while some of them came back in a body bag to be later dressed in their uniform for burial.
The sixties were an incredible time, and in my own writing those years have played an important role.
AlwaysHungryalmost 9 years ago...but not in the way one typically expects around here. Very poetically provocative.
