POEM: “CEMENT (BÊTE ON)” — (His friends would laugh at my writing too much. / His family arrogance I assumed would think me under-class.)
CEMENT (BÊTE ON)
Affinity.
Undercurrent.
Hello two words from where did you come?
I never said what I felt for him was love.
But affinity suggested kinship in marriage.
And undercurrent reckons romantic intention.
Ah, but I dreamt of you last night
for the second time in my life.
And just as I was then – zen
when your email-letter came in
I even took a moment to read it
there was no anticipation
I did the time difference
12:38 on a Sunday a.m.
Your sentiment, expressed
I very well knew it fit
Always thought me lovely you said
Always thought me off me head.
It did not convince me of anything new
Nor reinforce what I already knew.
It made me sad at our communication
At whatever armor blocked union.
Affinity.
Undercurrent.
Hello two worlds from where did you come?
I never said what I felt was less than love.
(His friends would laugh at my writing too much.
His family arrogance I assumed would think me under-class.)
But what devotion I would have transferred thu!s
But our little One would see your games in my trunk.
Such chest pains and lungs aghast in Brick Lane
Watching your madness erupt again and again.
Such docile calm in my dream last night
Like the replete and released you in the morning light.
Two most amazing nations
Autonomous plates – tectonics
We get close like misaligned jaws
that work, yet pressure causes fissures
Bang, rub against the friction and quake felt
Aw what wonders from my womb we’d have built
I did not feel it ethical to benefit beauty from accident.
Why did you not tell me all the world was built like this?!
Affinity.
Undercurrent.
Because our explosions in our heads
Our pains in our chests
And our very strong expressions and intelligence
That are muted by fear, paved over like cement.
Sylvie Hill, Montreal, September 13, 2019