October Snowpea Poem

So as the sun declines below Detroit
(the lake a cool
assurance of alternatives to hard
dark high-rise
miscellaneous)
the colors of the end of light
relax along the horizontal edge of this
blue place
with burnt sienna
rose and oranges
that soften into regular
domestic tragedies
of night
without a lover's willing
face
to stop the desperation of the chase
for daytime stars
that glint and blur and mix and lift
like mica sprinkling
on a concrete hieroglyph of altered space
where
by himself
a young black man
sits
still


for no good reason


so do I turn to memorize
the soft excitement of the homestretch of your lips
and close to the hypnosis
of your almost closing eyes
I spin to the surprise
of no pain/no pain
whatsoever

merry-go-round poetry

For one second there
you lay your face against
the brass
support on which the earth
turned high and low
a carousel of horse and rider
in electrical affinity
and I saw
that pole become like melted gold
impressionable and precious
from that momentary contact
with the reckless
question
of your cheek
and I knew the music of your rising
through the air
would not subside
or disappear

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Excerpted from Kissing God Goodbye by June Jordan. Copyright© 1997 by John Hollander. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this poem may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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