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APHRODITE IN BROOKLYN
Please allow me to take off my shoes,
this faux marble pose
and this modern, pragmatic mask.
Permit me my ruin.
Let us not consider this therapy
or revolution, do not ask me to give you space
let us not discuss those who came before
and those who might follow.
Let us not talk of past lives.
I have fallen on hard times.
If you come to my temple, just
let me make for you
an ocean
Half seen in the darkness
your body, a mystery
true, tangible, radiant,
lined with the rings of your life.
You are beautiful, beautiful to be a man.
Darling, even in this era, I will not believe
that love is disposable,
that sex is safe
that lovers are trains,
rolling past each other
to some certain station
I remember,
I almost remember
my river source.
My skin forms the word anew,
yes,
enter me
as if you were coming home.
Lauren Raine, 1999