New verse by the poet laureate of New Zealand, Selina Tusitala Marsh.
How To Woo Your Husband
I will sing a Song of Solomon upon you
whose very teeth I thought I knew
whose rate of calcification was by my very calculation
worked out these 21 years of marriage through
from my own jawbone they grew
and yet
I hold up a mirror
invert what I know to be true
years digging dark quartz
rock hewn crystal
precious stone frictioned
till shining mineral
after 21 years
I finally see you
I see you in me
a gasp from the shadows
stepping free
like Twilight’s Edward
an emancipatory move
into the sun
diamond skin sheen
when you spoke of us
as one
as my immortal destiny
I’ve been Bella-rized
mesmerised when you
prized apart
your chest
offered me the rest
rib, muscle, heart, lungs — your very breath.
O how sweet the name of husband became
when you turned in bed
from the tongueless dark
sang the song of your heart
where my name became the score
and it came with the passion
of Anais Anin
who in ’47 journalled
erotic connection and we connected
again.
O how I love thee, let me rap the ways:
each tear caught by the ocean
set in motion any Titanic doubt
I had about your love
your words
mountainous icebergs
ripping a chunk from the ship
that could not be sunk
I watch my doubts play
on the tipping deck
a stringed quartet slides
it must abide the 45 degree slope
a baby grand plays on in hope
as violins and drums
collapse and succumb
to the tilting of the ship’s deck
my doubts
they are wrecked
sink beneath the abyss
because like the sea
you now see me
in salty purification
your words
tsunami me
us, we were foraging
on a barren shore
picking morsels off the dry
seabed floor
scraping rock for muscle, oyster
prying crevice for sweet
seaweed for the poor
clutching a stranded fish or two
left in a forgotten rock pool
as if the ocean had forgotten
her name
as if this alien land
was the same
as where we lived before
always having enough
yet
always wanting more
then the wall of your words
rose from the horizon
watering, melting what we
thought was frozen
a wall of blue diction rose up
in the distance
syntactical explosion
no resistance in its path
it pulled with love
pushed with desire
dredging up all our marine bed mire
sped through the reef
rushed past tidal lines
swallowing land, tree, vine
aimed straight for me
and I alarmed
saw fish words fly free
so I, open-armed
caught fish love
fish passion
fish scaling emotion
fish spawning fish
from marital devotion.
I have sung this Song of Solomon upon you
and you, my ichthys, have sung me too.
Selina Tusitala Marsh, 2018
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