arrested love

ARRESTED LOVE


Love is hard to stop, but loss of lovers
who’re separated like two pieces of a melon
undermines arrested love when, under covers
of other beds, a fallen lover fails, faux felon.

Inspired by Ted Hughes’s poem “Lovesong,” presumably inspired by the love and death of Sylvia Plath:

He loved her and she loved himHis kisses sucked out her whole past and future or tried toHe had no other appetiteShe bit him she gnawed him she suckedShe wanted him complete inside herSafe and Sure forever and everTheir little cries fluttered into the curtainsHer eyes wanted nothing to get awayHer looks nailed down his hands his wrists his elbowsHe gripped her hard so that lifeShould not drag her from that momentHe wanted all future to ceaseHe wanted to topple with his arms round herOr everlasting or whatever there wasHer embrace was an immense pressTo print him into her bonesHis smiles were the garrets of a fairy placeWhere the real world would never comeHer smiles were spider bitesSo he would lie still till she felt hungryHis word were occupying armiesHer laughs were an assasin's attemptsHis looks were bullets daggers of revengeHer glances were ghosts in the corner with horrible secretsHis whispers were whips and jackbootsHer kisses were lawyers steadily writingHis caresses were the last hooks of a castaway Her love-tricks were the grinding of locksAnd their deep cries crawled over the floorsLike an animal dragging a great trapHis promises were the surgeon's gagHer promises took the top off his skullShe would get a brooch made of itHis vows pulled out all her sinews He showed her how to make a love-knotAt the back of her secret drawerTheir screams stuck in the wallTheir heads fell apart into sleep like the two halvesOf a lopped melon, but love is hard to stopIn their entwined sleep they exchanged arms and legsIn their dreams their brains took each other hostageIn the morning they wore each other's face

© 2009 Gershon Hepner 5/22/09