Three Poems by Erica Hunt

There’s living done

This morning I was well in love

making and fluctuating this side of

Remote: here.  Over and over

I moved him closer into my arms

Him.  Till sleep still ensorcels

Him and stillness leans

on my breasts.  Nothing to puncture this

wide awake moment.

Nothing downstairs or upstairs

Nothing I owe

no shrines to pine at

but a given art

pauses thought’s caught thread.

 

In the well of this morning’s

making Here over, I step back

towards the opening.  I think

Here.  That’s him sliding back against me

where we rub edges and coincidentally meet.

He steeps remote steep

slippery sides and still

breasts retain echo.  I throw the door

open and step back

wide awake into the fluctuating

think I have thought this here before

but that was sewing without thread.

Now I take each part,

take both sides,

lurching onward with the pin.

What I know now

procrastination is a signal

to attend to the scent

earth unhinges,

to fall into the step

desire ungrids,

to write in blue ink and commit

to gesture

a map

match unknown

to its incognito.

I know now

when you think

the weather’s turning

it is inner

demarcation,

unstopped heart moves

stones as if clouds blown

across the sky, unstopped

eyes notice food lines’ length

unstopped attention notes

pavements filled with sleepers,

how the brutal war startles

even statues into panic,

losing the power to wake up

the future, its urgent

recovery.

 

I know now

to vote for sense

even if the tongue

risks blisters

through direct speech,

threatens barbwire,

to commit to motion always

my Black woman body’s

a spice cabinet,

a space ship,

my thick vessel

a perfect work.

 

Thomas

He sees what others do not see.  He marries a blind woman who cannot contradict what he says he sees. He sees his hands even when he is not awake but dreaming, fists open or closed.  He sees how people’s bodies speak even when they are not talking but waiting, when people think they are blending in. He sees that often he is the only person paying close attention.  He has always been observant and comes from a long line of observant people.  

For instance

lip licking

eye twitching

crotch touching

arm holding

neck bent to one side

chin lowering

chin holding

chin rubbing

leg crossing

leg shaking

knee rubbing

ankle rubbing

ankle rotating

bottom shifting

underpants snapping

sitting up straight

sloughing

leaning forward

hip holding

hip akimbo

hip dipping

neck rolling

Hands between the legs protectively as one sleeps.

lip licking (pace)

eye twitching (arrhythmia)

crotch touching (length of time)

arm holding (angle of repose)

neck bent to one side (degree)

chin lowering (impulse control)

chin holding (fixed)

chin rubbing (heat)

leg crossing (closed circuit)

leg shaking (tempo)

knee rubbing (wish)

ankle rubbing (erase)

ankle rotating (ignition)

bottom shifting (agreement/disagreement)

underpants snapping (punctuation)

sitting up straight (alarm)

sloughing (archaeology)

leaning forward (edge search)

hip holding (measure)

hip akimbo (skeptical)

hip dipping (stroll for the people)

neck rolling (enemy sighted)

Hands between the legs protectively as one sleeps.