Would you come for me and ease my pain? –Townes Van Zandt
And if you say,
shall I kiss it,
then I shall say
yes, please, and
lead your lips
to the paper cut
on my right ring
finger. And if you
say, shall I kiss
it, I shall say
yes, please, and lead
your lips to the hollow
in my back where
the wings would be,
the place where
sometimes I collapse
and the pain shoots
into my wrist, my neck.
There’d be a whole trail
then for kissing.
The pain, it’s elusive,
it shifts every day.
And if you say,
shall I kiss it, I shall
say yes, and guide your
lips to my jaw
tight from clenching.
And if you say shall I
then I shall say please,
though the places
that hurt the most,
they are ones
that defy the word
here. But here, I shall say,
and here, I shall say.
And here. Please. And here.
I wondered how you were going to get past the inevitable collision with those other places “…that defy the word here” but that was such a snazzy line to accomplish the task. Without ignoring those places, you made the poem oh-so sensual, all that flitting about at the end.
Ahh… St Townes of Van Zandt. i hadn’t thought about going to him when my writing pump needs priming. Merci beaucoup.
“And if you say shall I/” I like your trust in the readers completing the query. And then too, all the beloved needs ask is, “Shall I?” The what is full understood.
Defy has both passive and aggressive connotations, and they all fit in the context of where you use it here.
“A kiss is just a kiss”? One hopes not!