Love Poems

[Saffron]

Each person has a natural smell, not an odor, but a scent.

what good is it
to be the lime burner's daughter
left with no trace
as if not spoken to in the act of love
as if wounded without the pleasure of a scar.

These are my favorite lines. This is a very sensuous poem. I love the idea of the transfer of one person’s scent to another and how that scent will leave a mark, something lasting, and very personal.

The lines you picked out are also some of my favorite lines in the poem. I also agree that each person has a smell. My daughter like to wear my robe or to lay in my bed because, they say, it smells like me. I have actually had the experience of being marked by another person's scent. The first time I felt madly in love with a man I was struck by his smell. I couldn't get enough. After the first time I was with with him, I could smell him all the next day on my skin. I must have looked like a fool, smelling my self all day long!

[Suzanne]

Saffron wrote:

I must have looked like a fool, smelling my self all day long!

OH, I can remember smelling and smiling too! I wonder if men experience the same. Michael Ondaatje seems to.

[Jlane5516]

Some of my earliest memories are of scents. My mother had a distinct smell.. One of books and Frangipanis which she used as bookmarks. My father remarried(I was 12)and at the ceremony I was put on the spot to deliver a short speech. The only thing that came to my mind was " You do not smell like my mother."

After my first date with my present fiance I remember loving her smell.. the smell of Frangipanis. I smiled the entire way home after that date.

[Saffron]

Some of my earliest memories are of scents. My mother had a distinct smell.. One of books and Frangipanis which she used as bookmarks. My father remarried(I was 12)and at the ceremony I was put on the spot to deliver a short speech. The only thing that came to my mind was " You do not smell like my mother."

After my first date with my present fiance I remember loving her smell.. the smell of Frangipanis. I smiled the entire way home after that date.

I know just what you mean about smell. My daughters like to wear my robe because they say it smells like me. I still like to think about and am amused by the memory of being struck by the smell of a man I was falling in love with at the time, as he got out of my car. His scent lingered and it made me smile all the way home.

[Saffron]

I picked up The Love Poems of may Swenson today. I read the first poem and I'm hooked. Here is the first 6 lines of Four-Word Lines.

Your eyes are just
like bees, and I
feel like a flower.
There brown power makes
a breeze go over
my skin. when your

Swenson catches something in her first 3 lines that I have been thinking about for sometime. How it feels to be looked at by by someone that loves you.


One more and I will post the whole thing.

Neither Wanting More

To lie with you
in a field of grass
to lie there forever
and let time pass

Touching lightly
shoulder and thigh
Neither wanting more
Neither asking why

To have your whole
cool body's length
along my own
to know the strength

of a secret tide
of longing seep
into our veins
go deep...deep

Dissolving flesh
and melting bone
Oh to lie with you
alone

To feel your breast
rise with my sigh
To hold you mirrored
in my eye

Neither wanting more
Neither asking why


I think the lines I like best is

Dissolving flesh
and melting bone

At it's best, I think sex can create the deepest kind of trust and comfort between two people.

[giselle]

saffron:

Neither Wanting More

This is a sensual poem, and sexual, and I think she captures human sexuality well as a very special connection between people. My favourite line is:

"To feel your breast
rise with my sigh"

I wondered about the meaning of the poem. Does she mean "neither wanting more" from this (sexual) experience or "neither wanting more" than this experience from life in general? Or maybe both?

[Saffron]

saffron:

Neither Wanting More

This is a sensual poem, and sexual, and I think she captures human sexuality well as a very special connection between people. My favourite line is:

"To feel your breast
rise with my sigh"

I wondered about the meaning of the poem. Does she mean "neither wanting more" from this (sexual) experience or "neither wanting more" than this experience from life in general? Or maybe both?

I think it is both -- the ultimate sensation of satisfaction --sexual and emotional together. And I like that set of lines too, but then I'd have to throw in --

Touching lightly
shoulder and thigh

and

To have your whole
cool body's length
along my own


I think one of the aspects of this poem that I like is the description of the two lying sated and still, in a position that still indicates the sexual activity that has taken place. Without being too graphic and disclosing -- it is one of the greatest pleasures I've know, the moments of feeling utterly safe and still next to a lover. Safety and trust, I think are the psychological underpinnings of lasting love and sex is one of the ways to construct this foundation.

[giselle]

saffron

"I think one of the aspects of this poem that I like is the description of the two lying sated and still, in a position that still indicates the sexual activity that has taken place."

Yes, this is the opposite of the couple sitting in bed, 2 feet apart, staring staight ahead, maybe one smoking a cigarette, although that's a bit passe now.

The poem strikes an excellent balance between the physical and the psychological aspects of sex while ultimately emphasizing the psychological, I think. Considering the overwhelming representation of sex and its physicality in books, media and film, where much of it lacks the psychological dimension, this simple poem does a great job of capturing this critical missing element.

[Saffron]

The poem strikes an excellent balance between the physical and the psychological aspects of sex while ultimately emphasizing the psychological, I think. Considering the overwhelming representation of sex and its physicality in books, media and film, where much of it lacks the psychological dimension, this simple poem does a great job of capturing this critical missing element.

I agree.

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A hint for quoting another member. Use the quote button. When the Post A Reply box opens, you can decide if you want to quote the entire post or delete what you do not want to be quoted.

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One last thing -- I want to try out something I just figured out -- or I might have just figured out -- we'll see.

Edited in: It worked! Way cool. If you are wondering -- the line.

[giselle]

those are really awesome lines Saffron, not sure how you did that. and i do use the quote function sometimes but I find it a bit cumbersone if I just want to excerpt one line ... however it does format the reply better than using copy and paste.