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The
Dreaming Room
Modern English Tanka
In Collage and Montage sets
wet
the window
glazed in rain,
my belly
warmed by your
wetness;
we gleam in the dark
uncurling
at midnight, our shadows
press and glide;
outside, a full moon
enters the night
in bed,
we gorge
on chocolates
shaped
like seashells
filled with praline cream
early morning,
a blossom’s wet mouth
at the window . . .
the air fills with light
as I tighten around you
after love,
two umbrellas go chatting
in the rain . . . *
a swirl of willow seeds
in the rushing stream
*homage
to Buson
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a curtain of dust
she bends
to collect her tip
and smiles,
aching to be touched
by knowing hands
I suck
the brandy from
his finger
before love; whispering
promises of much more
refuge from reality
in a night of shooting stars
I open to him . . .
in half-light, the pleasure
in each other’s eyes
falling up
into the stars from
a cradle of sand . . .
nestled close beside you
I turn and taste the night
ceiling shadows
move with the rain;
your touch
lingers, making today
anything but ordinary
nodding into sleep
the breath of the moon
on your back;
I pull you closer, holding
the light between us
a last look
at the room of passion
and loss;
in the rearview mirror
a curtain of dust
I still think
about that evening
at summer’s end
and the dark-haired stranger;
he loved me all night long
© 2007 Carol Raisfeld
Works created by Carol Raisfeld are
copyright
and not to be copied or used
in any way without written
permission.
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