Earthly Passions
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
A summer shower washed
My face. Earthly passions fell,
Gallons dropped away.
~ Kōyō [Englished by Phillip Whidden]
What “earthly passions” can the poet be
Referring to? No. Stop. What other kind
Of passions might there be? There are a scree
Of them; no; NO: more a lava combined
With earthquake and volcano. Hormones heave
A Krakatoa in a woman or
A man. Let’s face the facts. Let’s not deceive
Ourselves. The only passions are a roar
Of Mars on top of Venus, she beneath,
Or Zeus inside his victim Ganymede.
These gods are earthy, using hole as sheath.
Real passions are real thrustings, sex’s creed.
Make no mistake about them. They are not
Some Christian doctrine. They are semen shot.
~ Phillip Whidden