In Praise of Love Poems
A photo of me fallen asleep in a chair,
mouth open.
Imagine all the love-words ever said
to me from poems read
found that door in the wind
of my last outbreath,
bent on finding new eyes and ears.
Like odd socks
coming home from loveless laundromats
somehow
endearments, lines meant for, written
to you and thee,
as much yours and thine now
as I made mine:
slipped over the naked foot of desire—
quickly a thicker second skin
cushioning heel-strikes, moisture-wicking too
with off the cuff humour
in mismatched colours, the toe-hold of a hole
or the dare of an old thread dangling
from a high arch (ring my bell, love puppet!)—
the rhythm of a good fit
slow-dancing my soul until my body felt less
alone, less cold.
Lynne Burnett lives on Vancouver Island. Publications include American Journal of Poetry, Arc Poetry, Blue Heron Review, Calyx Journal, Comstock Review, Crosswinds, CV2, Kissing Dynamite, IthacaLit, Malahat Review, Mockingheart Review, New Millennium Writings, Pedestal Magazine, Ristau, River Styx, Tamsen, Taos Journal of International Poetry & Art, and several anthologies. A Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee, she won the 2016 Lauren K. Alleyne Difficult Fruit Poetry Prize and 2019 Jack Grapes Poetry Prize. She published a chapbook in 2018: IRRESISTIBLE by Lynne Burnett – Finishing Line Press. Visit her at https://lynneburnett.ca/
Stone Poetry Quarterly 