Write that I started in Barcelona straining against a man on a balcony Tell how I heard fears on the stair and devoted myself to them Write those lies because no one is interested in formalities No one will assume that the stairs were uninhabitable that the blond man and I were never intimate Go ahead say I was perverse letting the others whisper in hotel lobbies while I went upstairs to finger the spices and ivory All right I was there I extracted confessions from young women I stayed in bed all day and listened knowing I was mistaken I was vulgar I touched them only at twilight and only because when they left I was indifferent I saw their damp eyes their apartments I underwent terrors of lucidity Imagine their long hairs wiping my back their nervous kisses I tell you there was nothing worse than their genuine shudderings their young lips Say what you want I was morbid I was intelligent I leave you the fragments the furniture the horrible fatigue | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MARIA CALLAS, THE WOMAN BEHIND THE LEGEND* by MADELINE DEFREES JUGGLING JERRY by GEORGE MEREDITH MAUD MULLER by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER ODES: BOOK 2: ODE 5. ON LOVE OF PRAISE by MARK AKENSIDE AMPHIPOLIS by ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA ODE TO THE PAST by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |