Wednesday 27 April 2016

POETS UNITED - OPENNESS

“Just because a door appears closed it does not mean that it is locked - nor that it will not open with the right heart, call or touch” - Rasheed Ogunlaru

The Midweek Motif for Poets United this week is “Openness”. My contribution below:

You Read me Like an Open Book

“You read me like an open book,” she said,
“And always know what to do and what to say to me.
Why cannot you be the same,
Why must I always guess (and always wrongly!)
Of what you hide deep in your heart?”

I smile (and I do enigmatic well), and reply:
“My dear, were I too like an open book,
How boring we two would be,
Going around reading each other
And bumping into trees and poles and such?”

She looks puzzled and frowns –
“But it’s so frustrating, all this guessing,
This suspense, this uncertainty!
You are shut up like a clam
And I never know what pleases you…”

I open up my hand and on my outstretched palm
There is a verdant oasis of palm trees
And sweet, inviting water;
I open my arms and there is a peaceful place,
Disarmed, serene, eirenic.

“Come,” I say, “I am accessible,
Just don’t read me, simply feel,
Listen to my constant heartbeat
And let your fingers perceive the braille of my skin
That spells out my love more eloquently than printed words.”

She touches me and divines my meaning,
Wordlessly and so divinely quiet;
And she rightly guesses this time
My hidden meanings and understands
That for so long I have been staring at her open book
With the unseeing eyes of an illiterate.


This post is part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

18 comments:

  1. Neat turn around! I love "I do enigmatic well" especially given the openness that follows the open palm. Lovely!

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  2. You may do enigmatic well but your love poetry is even better.
    Just wonderful Nicholas...superb stuff !

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  3. This is beautiful. I never thought of the many disadvantages of being an 'open book' before really. In many ways it is better to be FELT than to be read. Being felt gets someone to the heart, where love resides.

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  4. Ah! I like the flow and the sweet romance of your words. :-)
    -HA

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  5. WOW! This poem is amazing. I love the stretching out of the hand, full of palm trees and water...the opening of the arms containing a peaceful place.....and then the turnaround at the end. Really wonderful to read, envision and imagine.

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  6. Like the twist in the last line!! Changing it quite a bit!

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  7. how lovely this is....

    Have a nice abc-wednesday-day / – week
    ♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (abc-w-team)

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  8. This is an amazing poem! I love the way you have structured it with the conversation between the lovers and ultimate revelation. The loving heart perceives the other heart like an open book without the words being read. Truly beautiful!

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  9. Not sure my other comment went through--this is so well written--such a treat to read!

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  10. "She touches me and divines my meaning, / Wordlessly and so divinely quiet;" so beautifully penned...profound...

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  11. Oh, how I love this! Such wonderful ideas so well expressed. And nice that the narrator turns the tables on himself again at the end.

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  12. Sometimes we can read but do not see or feel - i love the notion of the 'braille of my skin' - perhaps we learn more when we switch our thoughts off in a way..and explore

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  13. You have done full justice to the topic.

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  14. What we feel in the presence of those we love can speak volumes. Love the beautiful message in this Nicholas!

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  15. One cannot be an open book to all, but can be an open book to someone close to one.Very pretty way you have opened the openness.

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