Connecting the lines of love

A male friend told me it's quite easy to separate love from sex.  One evening years ago, he spent close to a case of beer (because that's how long it took to explain that shit to me) trying to get me to see how easy it is to separate the two.  These days, the friends-with-benefits concept is I guess the modern way of making the separation between love and sex absolutely clear.  I still don't get it.

I can't coldly separate mind, heart, and body. For me all are involved! all are consumed!  (hehehe! My apologies to all who love Martin Carter's poem "You are involved.")

But seriously, the reason I'm really enjoying John Agard's Lovelines for a Goat-born Lady is because the poems speak on all possible aspects of a couple's involvement--the physical, the cerebral, the spiritual (all my loose distinctions)--and they show the connections between these dimensions in a light, playful manner. 

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

By All Means Bless

 

By all means

bless the cloth

that wiped

the face

of Jesus

 

By all means

bless the towel

that unfolds

an infant

like the miraculous bread

 

By all means

bless the towel

the boxer returns to

- a brief harbour

after a harassing round

 

By all means

bless the sacred silk

that garbs

the sumo’s

amplitude of loin

 

But I say this also

bless the towel

that unwraps

your buttocks

(fresh out of the shower)

with such casual ease

 

we overlook

life’s small epiphanies

 

If yuh ever piss off yuh man or woman, pull out this collection and read him or her a poem or two from it.  That ought to put a smile on his or her face.  Warning: Don't try to read any poem to your man or woman before you have confessed to and apologized profusely for the foul act you committed.  Wait a few hours or days (depending on the seriousness of the crime), then slowly tickle your honey with Lovelines.

 

And if that doesn't work, then maybe you'd be better off in one of those disconnected relationships where presumably you can avoid messy, involved fights.

 

 

Comments

[Juan]

It's been told to me that doing that separation is easier for a man than for a woman. I do not totally agree. Anyway.. thanks for making me read that beautiful poem.

[c.d.valere]

Hi Juan,

Yes, I've been told that men generally make the separation easier than women do--something to do with the differences in gender brain function / dysfunction or other (lol).

Thanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed the poem.