A new poem from Ōtautahi-based poet Claudia Jardine.

Ode to Mons Pubis

fatty tissue, edifice of overtures

joints, ligaments, bones, cartilage

dark turns to stars when I think about

the buttress of pubic symphysis

yes! paths of faery lights, yes! brambly wads

yes! tracks of calligraphic gastropods

yes! tender grasses, yes! boxed beds

clippings from a crooner’s greenhouse

topiary of the descent

one sight of the treeline and brain tells blood to bouse

erogenous zone! bumper bar!

tendons, abdominals, I know what you are!

hair-covered fat pad, fine hill for roly-polies

the best views, as we know, should be taken in slowly

but not too slowly! Byron did say that

“high mountains are a feeling”

and this mountain, though not high, feels like

a chalet, a chassis and a beacon

oh shady stoa! sloping lawn!

diving board of channel crossings!

the panache and talent of your form

absorbs all of my worries

your body, my body, round and around

the belt of Adonis ♥ the Venusian mound

and all my moth-heart das̶h̴b̷̩͎̘̄̈́ŏ̸̜͙̇͜͜͝a̴̱̐͆̒r̵̜͂̌͑̔d̵͕͇͈̣͙̎̿ ą̵͑b̸̯̌̃͌ļ̵̻̞̎ą̵̣̃̊ż̴͖̿̌ͅē̵̥

interrupt my Byron – ready the belays

 

The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are welcome and will be open until the end of April. Please send your poems to chris@christse.co.nz.