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Mar. 5th, 2003 09:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
judecorpArticulacy of fingers, the language of the deaf and dumb, signing on the body body longing. Who taught you to write in blood on my back? Who taught you to use your hands as branding irons? You have scored your name into my shoulders, referenced me with your mark. The pads of your fingers have become printing blocks, you tap a message on to my skin, tap meaning into my body. Your morse code interferes with my heart beat. I had a steady heart beat before I met you, I relied upon it, it had seen active service and grown strong. Now you alter its pace with your own rhythm, you play upon me, drumming me taut. ~ Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body
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Date: 2003-03-05 07:41 am (UTC)I liked it better the second time :)
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Date: 2003-03-05 03:42 pm (UTC)I love this book. I borrowed it from the library a few years back and read it twice back to back. Last year, my darling
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Date: 2003-03-05 08:59 am (UTC)i looooooooove that book.
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Date: 2003-03-05 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-08 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-08 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-08 10:53 pm (UTC)I always think the narrator is obviously female, but then again, I think I'm reading into things the way I want them to be.
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Date: 2003-03-08 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-05 09:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-05 03:46 pm (UTC)It's a quick read. I should be done with it shortly. Have you read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit? Also Winterson, and very good. I also own Sexing the Cherry by her, and I've started to read it several times but it is a bit more tedious.
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Date: 2003-03-05 04:01 pm (UTC)*boggles*
Date: 2003-03-05 04:15 pm (UTC)Sheesh!
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Date: 2003-03-05 12:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-05 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-06 08:48 am (UTC)She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that 's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes.
Just a moment in forever.
My Mistress's Eyes
Date: 2003-03-06 09:41 am (UTC)Coral is far more red than her lip's red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun,
If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
In some perfumes there is more delight
Than the breath with which my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know,
Music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
~William Shakespeare
I've always gotten goosebumps from this one. The lines in bold are my favorites.
Re: My Mistress's Eyes
Date: 2003-03-06 12:20 pm (UTC)You would want
few
to be carried away.
Sweeter.
You yourself know
but someone forgot.
Some might say
I will love
as long as there is breath
in me.
I'll care.
I say I've been a firm friend.
Things grievous,
bitter,
but know
I will love.
-Sappho
Re: My Mistress's Eyes
Date: 2003-03-07 05:54 am (UTC)with what is richest
make sky flow honey out of my hips
rigid as mountains
spread over a valley
carved out by the mouth of rain.
And I knew when I entered her ~ I was
high wind in her forest's hollow
fingers whispering sound
honey flowed ~ from the split cup
impaled on a lance of tongues
on the tips of her breasts ~ on her navel
and my breath ~ howling into her entrances
through lungs of pain.
Greedy as herring-gulls
or a child
I swing out ~ over the earth
over and over ~ again
~Audre Lord, "Love Poem"
The Touch
Date: 2003-03-07 06:50 am (UTC)The trees have kept some lingering sun in their branches,
Veiled like a woman, evoking another time,
The twilight passes, weeping. My fingers climb,
Trembling, provocative, the line of your haunches.
My ingenious fingers wait when they have found
The petal flesh beneath the robe they part.
How curious, complex, the touch, this subtle art--
As the dream of fragrance, the miracle of sound.
I follow slowly the graceful contours of your hips,
The curves of your shoulders, your neck, your upappeased breasts.
In your white voluptuousness my desire rests,
Swooning, refusing itself the kisses of your lips.
~Renee Vivien
no subject
Date: 2003-03-07 09:22 am (UTC)body. It is so quite new a thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones, and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz
of your electric furr, and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh....And eyes big love-crumbs,
and possibly i like the thrill
of under me you so quite new
~e.e. cummings
Love's Acolyte
Date: 2003-03-07 10:38 am (UTC)Many have loved you with lips and fingers
And lain with you till the moon went out;
Many have brought you lover's gifts!
And some have left their dreams on your doorstep.
But I who am youth among your lovers
Come like an acolyte to worship,
My thirsting blood restrained by reverence,
My heart a wordless prayer.
The candles of desire are lighted,
I bow my head, afraid before you,
A mendicant who craves your bounty
Ashamed of what small gifts she brings.
~Elsa Gidlow
Elbows
Date: 2003-03-08 09:25 am (UTC)Don’t let your elbows
show."
That’s what my neighbors
down in Alabama tell
their daughters
so no elbow
plump or thin
tan or pink
will entice others
to passion.
But if I thought
my scrawny, two-toned
elbows would lure you
if I thought
my skinny, sharp-boned
elbows could secure you
I’d flap my arms
like a chicken
like a pea-fowl
like a guinea hen
when next I saw you
honey
I’d roll
up my sleeves and
sin
sin
sin.
~Minnie Bruce Pratt
Where We Belong, A Duet
Date: 2003-03-08 04:42 pm (UTC)In evey city square,
In crowded places
I searched the faces
Hoping to find
Someone to care.
I read mysterious meanings,
In the distant stars,
Then I went to schoolrooms
And poolrooms
And half-lighted cocktail bars.
Braving dangers,
Going with strangers,
I don't even remember their names.
I was quick and breezy
And always easy
Playing romantic games.
I wined and dined a thousand exotic Joans and Janes
In dusty dance halls, at debutante balls,
On lonely country lanes.
I fell in love forever,
Twice every year or so.
I wooed them sweetly, was theirs completely,
But they always let me go.
Saying bye now, no need to try now,
You don't have the proper charms.
Too sentimental and much to gentle
I don't tremble in your arms.
Then you rose into my life
Like a promised sunrise.
Brightening my days with the light in your eyes.
I've never been so strong,
Now I'm where I belong.
~Maya Angelou
Wild nights!--wild nights!
Date: 2003-03-08 05:59 pm (UTC)Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile the winds
To a heart in port--
Done with the compass,
Done with the chart!
Rowing in Eden--
Ah, the sea!
Might I moor, tonight,
In thee!
~Emily Dickinson
My Lady.
Date: 2003-03-08 06:18 pm (UTC)Perdite, señora, quiero
de mi silencio perdón,
si lo que ha sido atención
le hace parecer grosero.
Y no me podrás culpar
si hasta aquí mi proceder,
por ocuparse en querer,
se ha olvidado de explicar.
Que en mi amorosa pasión
no fue desuido, ni mengua,
quitar el uso a la lengua
por dárselo al corazón.
Ni de explicarme dejaba:
que, como la pasión mía
acá en el alma te vía,
acá en el alma te hablaba.
Y en esta idea notable
dichosamenta vivía,
porque en mi mano tenia
el fingirte favorable.
Con traza tan peregrina
vivió mi esperanza vana,
pues te pudo hacer humana
concibiéndote divina.
¡Oh, cuán loca llegué a verme
en tus dichosos amores,
que, aun fingidos, tus favroes
pudieron enloquecerme!
¡Oh, cómo, en tu sol hermoso
mi ardiente afecto encendido,
por cebarse en lo lucido,
olvidó lo peligroso!
Perdona, si atrevimiento
fue atreverme a tu ardor puro;
que no hay sagrado seguro
de culpas de pensamiento.
De esta manera engañaba
la loca esperanza mía,
y dentro de mí tenía
todo el bien que deseaba.
Mas ya tu precepto grave
rompe mi silencio mudo;
que él solamente ser pudo
de mi respeto la llave.
Y aunque el amar tu belleza
es delito sin disculpa
castígueseme la culpa
primero que la tibieza.
No quieras, pues, rigurosa,
que, estando ya declarada,
sea de veras desdichada
quien fue de burlas dichosa.
Si culpas mi desacato,
culpa también tu licencia;
que si es mala mi obediencia,
no fue justo tu mandato
Y si es culpable mi intento,
será mi afecto precito,
porque es amarte un delito
de que nunca me arrepiento.
Esto en mis afectos hallo,
y más, que explicar no sé;
mas tú, de lo que callé,
inferirás lo que callo.
My Lady (English)
My lady, I must implore
forgiveness for keeping still,
if what I meant as tribute
ran contrary to your will.
Please do not reproach me
if the course I have maintained
in the eagerness of my love
left my silence unexplained.
I love you with so much passion,
neither rudeness nor neglect
can explain why I tied my tongue,
yet left my heart unchecked.
The matter to me was simple:
love for you was so strong,
I could see you in my soul
and talk to you all day long.
With this idea in mind,
I lived in utter delight,
pretending my subterfuge
found favor in your sight.
In this strange, ingenious fashion,
I allowed the hope to be mine
that I still might see as human
what I really conceived as divine.
Oh, how mad I became
in my blissful love of you,
for even though feigned, your favor
made all my madness seem true!
How unwisely my ardent love,
which your glorious sun inflamed,
sought to feed upon your brightness,
though the risk of your fire was plain!
Forgive me if, thus emboldened,
I made bold with that sacred fire:
there's no sanctuary secure
when thought's transgressions conspire.
Thus it was I kept indulging
these foolhardy hopes of mine,
enjoying within myself
a happiness sublime.
But now, at your solemn bidding,
this silence I herewith suspend,
for your summons unlocks in me
a respect no time can end.
And, although loving your beauty
is a crime beyond repair,
rather the crime be chastised
than my fervor cease to dare.
With this confession in hand,
I pray, be less stern with me.
Do not condemn to distress
one who fancied bliss so free.
If you blame me for disrespect,
remember, you gave me leave;
thus, if obedience was wrong,
your commanding must be my reprieve.
Let my love be ever doomed
if guilty in its intent,
for loving you is a crime
of which I will never repent.
This much I descry in my feelings--
and more that I cannot explain;
but you, from what I've not said,
may infer what words won't contain.
~Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Tarot Card VI. THE LOVERS
Date: 2003-03-08 10:50 pm (UTC)and now when I am not,
you are twice blessed
for giving
a rich person a gift.
In no one else's dream but yours,
I will be the old lady
wearing a white straw hat
with a red satin bow
who says Thank you.
~Grace Cavalieri
You
Date: 2003-03-09 11:02 am (UTC)I love your throat, so fragrant, fair,
The little pulses beating there;
Your eye-brows' shy and questioning air;
I love your shadowed hair.
I love your flame-touched ivory skin;
Your little fingers frail and thin;
Your dimple creeping out and in;
I love your pointed chin.
I love the way you move, you rise;
Your fluttering gestures, just-caught cries;
I am not sane, I am not wise,
God! how I love your eyes!
~Angelina Weld Grimké
Habitation
Date: 2003-03-09 08:45 pm (UTC)a house or even a tent
it is before that, and colder:
the edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back where we squat
outside, eating popcorn
the edge of the receding glacier
where painfully and with wonder
at having survived even
this far
we are learning to make fire
~Margaret Atwood
no subject
Date: 2003-03-12 10:25 am (UTC)Your voice, like the bells of angels.
Your breath, like the sweetest of all.
Your heart, wrapped up around my own.
The touch of you upon my skin.
The warmth of you upon my lips.
The electric blue of your heart.
My hero. My love. My inspiration.
Art.
My True Love Has My Heart
Date: 2003-03-17 07:22 am (UTC)By just exchange one for the other given;
I hold [hers] dear and mine [she] cannot miss;
There never was a better bargain driven.
My true-love hath my heart and I have [hers],
[Her] heart in me keeps [her] and me in one;
My heart in [her] [her] thoughts and senses guides;
[She] loves my heart for once it was [her] own,
I cherish [hers] because in me it bides.
My true-love hath my heart and I have [hers].
~Philip Sydney
Because She Would Ask Me Why I Loved Her
Date: 2003-03-24 11:33 am (UTC)No eyes would ever gaze in eyes;
If all our tale were told in speech
No mouths would wander each to each.
Were spirits free from mortal mesh
And love not bound in hearts of flesh
No aching breasts would yearn to meet
And find their ecstasy complete.
For who is there that lives and knows
The secret powers by which [s]he grows?
Were knowledge all, what were our need
To thrill and faint and sweetly bleed?
Then seek not, sweet, the "If" and "Why"
I love you now until I die.
For I must love because I live
And life in me is what you give.
~Christopher Brennan
Jenny Kissed Me
Date: 2003-03-26 07:42 pm (UTC)Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief! who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in.
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad;
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me;
Say I'm growing old, but add-
Jenny kiss'd me.
~- Leigh Hunt
Night Thoughts
Date: 2003-03-27 12:07 pm (UTC)Stars, you are unfortunate, I pity you,
Beautiful as you are, shining in your glory,
Who guide seafaring men through stress and peril
And have no recompense from gods or mortals,
Love you do not, nor do you know what love is.
Hours that are aeons urgently conducting
Your figures in a dance through the vast heaven,
What journey have you ended in this moment,
Since lingering in the arms of my beloved
I lost all memory of you and midnight.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
no subject
Date: 2003-03-31 07:27 am (UTC)Are frosty channels to a muted stream,
And out of all our burning their remains
No feeblest spark to fire us, even in dream,
This be our solace: that it was not said
When we were young and warm and in our prime,
Upon our couch we lay as lie the dead,
Sleeping away the unreturning time.
O sweet, O heavy-lidded, O my love,
When morning strikes her spear upon the land,
And we must rise and arm us and reprove
The insolent daylight with a steady hand,
Be not discountenanced if the knowing know
We rose from rapture but an hour ago.
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
Evening Song
Date: 2003-04-08 09:01 am (UTC)Look off, dear Love, across the sallow sands,
And mark yon meeting of the sun and sea;
How long they kiss in sight of all the lands,
Ah! longer, longer we.
Now, in the sea's red vintage melts the sun
As Egypt's pearl dissolved in rosy wine
And Cleopatra-night drinks all- 'tis done,
Love, lay thine hand in mine.
Come forth, sweet stars, and comfort heaven's heart,
Glimmer, ye waves, 'round else unlighted sands;
Oh night! divorce our sun and sky apart-
Never our lips, our hands.
~Sidney Lanier
The First Day
Date: 2003-04-21 07:10 am (UTC)First hour, first moment of your meeting me;
If bright or dim the season it might be;
Summer or winter for aught I can say.
So, unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was i to see and to forsee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom, yet, for many a May.
If only I could recollect it! Such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow.
It seemed to mean so little, meant so much!
If only now I could recall that touch,
First touch of hand in hand! - Did one but know!
~Christina Rossetti
A Knight's Sleep
Date: 2003-08-19 01:25 pm (UTC)you have the strength of a thousand soldiers within one palm. My sweet angel so gentle and kind your galant spirit is what moves my mind. My love for you is so vast so deep only within your arms is where I choose to sleep.
Why Do You Sleep With Girls?
Date: 2003-09-16 08:03 am (UTC)(Jeannette Winterson, 1998)
Ruth
Date: 2003-10-19 10:30 am (UTC)Not in servility, but homage sweet,
Gladly inclined:-and with my bended knee
Think that my inward spirit bows to thee-
More proud indeed than when I stand or climb
Elsewhere:-there us no stature so sublime
As Love's in all the world, and e'en to kiss
The pedestal is still a better bliss
Than all ambitions. O! Love's lowest base
Is far above the reaching of disgrace
To shame this posture. Let me then draw nigh
Feet that have fared so nearly to the sky,
And when this duteous homage has been given
I will rise up and clasp the heart in Heaven.
~ Thomas Hood (1799-1845)