Poem 32 – Ode to George Elliott Clarke’s Mouth

Ode to George Elliott Clarke’s Mouth

When he took the stage in the atelier
it was an assault
the air heaved toward him
rendering me breathless
my spin reconfigured in 
attention a vertebrae salute
the space became a sanctuary
a long mantis finger pushed up his glasses
and.then.he.quaked

Head leaned back
forehead glistening with sweat
cheeks puffed proud like mountains
lips, oh lips! 
peeling back in revelation
spit, oh spit!
liquid music jazzing off 
teeth, oh teeth!
surreptitious sentinels outed 
in a slippery sexy serendipity 
sauce of sounds
blasting bombs for
the freedom war
that is poetry

Oh, mouth, divine mouth!
my virgin ears exploded
my collarbone snapped
my eyeballs a-woo-gah-ed

Who is the man and what is
he doing with his mouth?

Provoked by the prophetic wordfalls
tango-ing off his pink dune palates
my  joy took flight and soared
to his bottom left incisor
gripped it gratefully before
swinging into the deep 
vestibule of vernacular
toes pushing off spongy dorsum
triple-flipping to catch his
vivacious uvula
oh, frenulum fondled!
I was in his mouth 
baptized – delivered into
his land of promise 
discipled

Such an ultimate undoing
extraordinary miraculous 
mouth

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It’s February 1st, y’all! Today begins my month of dedication and discipline on my YA novel. I will continue with my daily poem too with inspiration rooted in Black History Month. Thank you for reading and commenting on my poetry!