Extremes with Charles
“Time stutters in your arms. It expands, diaphragm pushing down and out to make room for seconds smoothing into hours.” ~ Jaime Mathis, “Blood Blister,” It Rises and Falls
I now invite you each to call up in
Your mind the most important moment you
Experienced with Charles—a lovely sin,
Perhaps, or better still the time the two
Of you encountered Christ together.* I
Have ones I must recall. The first was when
I left, abandoned him, went off to fly
Away to Scotland. He embraced me then
In Foggy Bottom’s Metro. We both sobbed.
His stomach heaved against mine in his woe.
Our sorrow earthquaked. Our agony throbbed.
I hadn’t known he loved me, didn’t know
Till then. One later night he gave a kiss,
One full-mouthed kiss in darkness. I ate bliss.
* Here I suggest a long pause before the reading of the poem continues.