Erotic poems and poems dealing with the theory of human sexuality have been around for ages, some penned by the likes of Sappho of Lesbos and Ovid. Contemporaries include, and are certainly not limited to, e.e.cummings and T.S. Eliot (Oddly, one doesn’t have to be referred to in the modern age by his initials in order to write poems of this nature, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt).

As e.e.cummings said,

may i feel said he
(i'll squeal said she

This is a portion of the opening stanza of one of his more famous works, “may i feel said he”, originally published in 1935 in his No Thanks collection. T.S. Eliot stated in 1910′s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” that “the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo”.

Today I’ve got several sensual poems that have, uh, come up in this month’s Poem-a-Day challenge, as hosted by our friends over at Writer’s Digest.

I am certain that the overtly sexual language in the poems can be seen, but the trick is always to find the underlying meaning–if there is one, of course. Eliot’s “Prufrock” was not overly sexual and had quite a few sociopolitical leanings in its day. The line I quoted above, when taken in context is a feeble and demoralizing attempt by the character Prufrock to find his own sexual strength, to confirm his desirability to women, and is indeed, in the context of the poem, quite literal. Women, discussing artistic works by the great Michelangelo. How can they possibly find him attractive when his accomplishments are so little, when in the presence of such a vast body of romantic emotion?

Cummings’s poem is quite more vastly sexual in nature, imbued with flirtatious reference to the desire of the two characters to become physically intimate. In the end, they do: “(cccome?said he / ummm said she)”. We have to remember, though, that in 1935, this sort of spontaneous desire to procreate for pleasure was taboo and looked upon with scorn. To see, even only in words, two folks come together, even in such a frivolously romantic way as Cummings describes in this poetry, was nothing less than shocking.

I’ll let you pull your own interpretation from the poems I’m about to post. As I’ve said before, I believe poetry is a personal revelation, through which one communicates with self, even through another’s words.

Enjoy!

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April 8. For today’s prompt, use a household tool for your title.

Here’s my attempt for the day:

SAW

he said she said I think you thought
and in or out, for nigh, for nought.
the push and pull of up and down,
of hips and lips and tails and crowns
will walk and run, will stop and go
and clench, and clutch
and clamp and
squeeze slide
push
tug
oh
o

April 14, 2010
Canyon Lake, Texas

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April 14. For today’s prompt, your title is “_____ Island”.

Here’s my attempt for the day:

Your Island

I run through the forest of
curls on your island, touch
your volcano, watch you explode.
Then with your island still quivering,
tingling, I kiss you and
feel you implode.

April 14, 2010
Canyon Lake, Texas

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April 20. For today’s prompt, write a poem about looking back or looking ahead.

Here’s my attempt for the day:

Then, But Now

Then, when you and I were young, we
  would waste days and months on love
  and flowers and kisses and dew.
But now it seems if I think back to you
  and look ahead, I might be dead,
  starved of body and of mind,
  though with overflowing heart.
Then, you’d untie the reigns of your
  evening gown and let the silky fabric
  slide across your breasts, and you
  would come to me and love me.
But now, your love is deeper, richer, spread
  across me like the tantric perversions
  of our younger days, like the love I
  spread across your tongue and chest.
Then, you would pounce, feline devil,
  and I would plunge my dagger
  deep and your heart would quiver,
  the strings ringing beautiful tones.
But now, you sing lullabies, and I love you
  even more.

April 21, 2010
San Antonio, Texas