The Good Californian Poet (One of Many)

"I write poetry to seduce women and to overthrow the Capitalist system. In that order." -Kenneth Rexroth



I was remnded of Rexroth again through the Greg Brown thinking and Brown's approaching perfection song "Rexroth's Daughter."

Here's one of those poems that are more apt to seduce than overthrow....


"Floating"

Our canoe idles in the idling current
Of the tree and vine and rush enclosed
Backwater of a torpid midwestern stream;
Revolves slowly, and lodges in the glutted
Waterlilies. We are tired of paddling.
All afternoon we have climbed the weak current,
Up dim meanders, through woods and pastures
Past muddy fords where the strong smell of cattle
Lay thick across the water; singing the songs,
Nightherding songs, songs of the capstan walk,
The levee, and the roll of the voyageurs.
Tired of motion, of the rhythms of motion,
Tired of the sweet play of our interwoven strength,
We lie in each other's arms and let the palps
Of waterlily leaf and petal hold back
All the motion in the heat thickened, drowsing air.
Sing to me softly, Western Wynde, Ah the Syghes,
Mon coeur se recommend a vous, Phoebi Claro;
Sing the wandering erotic melodies
Of men and women gone seven hundred years,
Softly, your mouth close to my cheek.
Let our thighs lie entangled on the cushions,
Let your breasts in their thin cover
Hang pendant against my naked arms and throat;
Let your odorous hair fall across our eyes;
Kiss me with those subtle, melodic lips.
As I undress you, your pupils are black, wet,
Immense, and your skin ivory and humid.
Move softly, move hardly at all, part your thighs,
Take me slowly while our gnawing lips
Fumble against the humming blood in our throats.
Move softly, do not move at all, but hold me,
Deep, still, deep within you, while time slides away,
As this river slides beyond this lily bed,
And the thieving moments fuse and disappear
In our mortal, timeless flesh.

----

from In Defense of the Earth (1956)