C.L. Bledsoe

Two Poems

Pause

Crouched above me like a gazelle
dipping its neck to drink — your thighs —

a yellow cream. I leaned up,
clamped my mouth to your sex.

It gave you pause. Your head
lifted and froze and you didn't make a sound.

It's good that no matter the weight of days
that press us apart,

I still know how to make you quiet.

 

4 Short Poems About Sex

    1

My fiancé's roommate
    on one of her last nights
    in the apartment
    told us a story
    about her father
    who fed his dog sausages at night,
    then, once, he got drunk,
    went to piss in the trees
    behind his house
    after feeding the dog,
    and the dog, smelling the sausage
    on the man's hands, enveloped
    his penis, in its mouth, not doing damage
    other than surprising him.

    2

When I was a fifteen,
    the exterminator, in the process
    of spraying the house, burst
    into my bedroom, while I was
    masturbating.

I stared
    hard
    in his eyes for one moment
    and he closed the door, but then
    flung it back open a second later,
    entered and proceeded to spray my
    bedroom, while I sat rigid
    terrified
    covering myself with the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

I'd stolen
    from my brother,

until the man left, moments later
    leaving the door slightly ajar.

    3

Poor old Wesley got off work early
    went home and found his wife
    entertaining a gentleman caller.

The next day Wesley told his boss
    not to send him home early anymore.

    4

The last night I sneaked into my father's office
    to call sex lines with Lawrence, my only

friend, on two way, listening to dirty stories, never realizing he
    was doing what I
    was doing until we called one

talking about a couple on a beach, pouring sand
    in the girl's ass; I started thinking

how much that would hurt, rub the skin
    clean off. Then I heard Lawrence
    breathing heavy.

 
C.L. Bledsoe is an editor for the Hollins Critic as well as Ghoti Magazine. He has work in Margie, Natural Bridge, Eyeshot, Fiction Warehouse, Story South, Hobart, Opium, Stickman Review, Nimrod, Thunder Sandwich, Word Riot, and Snow Monkey, among other places. E-mail: mariastatic[at]yahoo.com.

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