the look of love

 

A puppy called puberty

It was like keeping a puppy in your underpants
A secret puppy you weren’t allowed to show to anyone
Not even your best friend or your worst enemy

You wanted to pat him, stroke him, cuddle him
All the time you weren’t supposed to touch him.

He only slept for five minutes at a time
Then he’d suddenly perk up his head
In the middle of school medical inspection
And always on bus rides.

So you had to climb down from the upper deck
All bent double to smuggle the puppy off the bus
Without the buxon conductress spotting
Your wicked and ticketless stowaway.

Jumping up, wet-nosed, eagerly wagging-
He only stopped being a nuisance
When you were alone together
Pretending to be doing your homework
But really gazing at each other
Through hot and laxy daydreams.
Of those beautiful schoolgirls on the bus
With kittens bouncing in their sweaters.

Adrian Mitchell

I think this poem is excellent.

who wouldn't want to stroke this?

Sex without Love by Sharon Olds

'How do they do it, the ones who make love
without love?  Beautiful as dancers,
gliding over each other like ice-skaters
over the ice, fingers hooked
inside each other's bodies, faces
red as steak, wine, wet as the
children at birth whose mothers are going to
give them away. '

La Douleur by Pablo Picasso
 ( is it a self portrait?)

How a bear took over one of my poems...

The girls had run away, but the bear called after them: "Snow-white and Rose-red, don't be afraid; wait, and I'll come with you." Then they recognized his voice and stood still, and when the bear was quite close to them his skin suddenly fell off, and a beautiful man stood beside them, all dressed in gold.

The ladybird book about Snow White and Rose Red. Snow White was quiet and liked housework, whilst Rose Red liked running in the forest and laughing. This meant that Snow White gets the Prince at the end and Rose Red has to marry his brother, who has not been mentioned in the story at all and never described, poor Rose Red, does she have a choice? The moral of this tale: quiet domesticated girls get rewarded. 

As a child I always liked Rose Red best...

Rose Red exactly how I imagine her, bravely dealing with the annoying dwarf whilst Snow White looks all anxious and scared. Painted by Arthur Rackham

I love this story. Anthropomorphic animals always get into my poems and novels. I am writing my dissertation about them. My poem about Rose Red details the reality of falling in love with a bear.

Bears make lousy lovers, they crap in corners and the hair gets everywhere.

I read three poems at Parole Parlate, spoken word event in Worcester and got a great reaction from the audience about the Bear poem, I guess everyone wanted to know what happens when you fall in love with a bear. Read the review of the night below.

Parole Parlate Spoken Word Night : Review

I can only listen to this whilst imagining a burning pyre and people in long robes holding torches

the meaning of the word sublime...

Cheetah and a goldfinch

more paintings by Jackie Morris