Olga Broumas

Love Poems by Women, edited by Wendy Mulford

Today's favorite:

OLGA BROUMAS

Sleeping Beauty

I sleep, I sleep

too long, sheer hours

hound me, out

of bed and into clothes, I wake

still later, breathless, heart

racing, sleep

peeling off like a hairless

glutton, momentarily

slaked. Cold

water shocks me

back from the dream. I see

lovebites like fossils: something

that did exist

dreamlike, though

dreams have the perfect alibi, no

fingerprints, evidence

that a mirror could float

back in your own face, gleaming

its silver eye. Lovebites like fossils. Evidence.

strewn

round my neck like a ceremonial

necklace, suddenly

snapped apart.

O

Blood. Tears. The vital

salt of our body. Each

other's mouth.

Dreamlike

the taste of you

sharpens my tongue like a thousand shells,

bitter, metallic. I know

as I sleep

that my blood runs clear

as salt

in your mouth, my eyes.

O

City-center, mid -

traffic, I

wake to your public kiss. Your name

is Judith, your kiss a sign

to the shocked pedestrians, gathered

beneath the light that means

stop

in our culture

where red is a warning, and men

threaten each other with final violence. I will drink

your blood. Your kiss

is for them

a sign of betrayal, your red

lips suspect, unspeakable

liberties as

we cross the street, kissing

against the light, singing, This

is the woman I woke from sleep, the woman that woke

me sleeping.

O

O