Carmen Willcox
Carmen Willcox tells us, "I am Mediterranean born and during my childhood I lived
opposite an exquisite 12th Century Cathedral. Each day, on my way to and from
school, I would pass this romantic place. The beautiful singing voices sounded
heavenly as they drifted on the hot, sunny air. Its ancient interior was dark and
cold, filled with marble statues, glowing candles and haunting, monastic chanting.
Cloisters, dark-robed silent figures, incense; all these seeped into my young mind and
still they remain a vital core of much of my writing." You can obtain
information about ordering her excellent books and CD's at paradise.farm@virgin.net or by
visiting the ParadiseFarm web site.
At the The Art of Love competition organized by LondonArt.co.uk (Britain's
largest contemporary art website, exhibiting nearly 10,000
artworks by over 750 artists worldwide), two of Carmen's poems were selected to appear in an exhibition
(and accompanying catalog) at the Arndean gallery in London during
February 2004. The poetry entries were judged by Andrew Motion, Britain's
Poet Laureate.
Soaring
We could be soaring
this blue, this cool,
this moonlit night.
We could be soaring
like lost flames, spent,
slaked by Dawn's discovering light.
We could be shimmering,
feasting, glimmering
in a frisson of dangerous flight.
We could be dreaming, fleeing
scheming to find the stormy sigh
within that silent delight.
We could be opening worlds
of rare and total surrender,
parting their days of silken sleep.
We could be spreading aside
the slumber of waiting
for the gasp
of the thrust
of the breath-stabbing rush
to blaze in.
And piercing the heavens
with the avid, glorious peril
of falling too deep, too deep,
we would plead with the Angels
to forget our rebellious existence,
lock well our path to redemption,
then abandon
the solitary key.
Siege
I want to dive the depths of you.
I want to bail and scoop and dip
the very marrow of the
curves
of you.
I want to drown in the myth of you.
I want to explore, explode and swim
the darkest heart of
you.
I want to exhale, inhale
saturate, suffocate
and wrench the breath
and height and life of
you.
I need to own the span and measure
of the bedded,
sleeping, dreaming you.
I need to reach the stretch of all the distance
of the waking eyes of
you.
I need to encircle the fullest extent
of the breadth
of the mystery of you.
I want to count the bones
that covet the beauty
in you.
I want to number the bridges you equal
in that excellent, most
exquisite power
that is you.
I want to crush, distil,
drink my fill
of the essence of you.
I want to lay siege at your composure
and win the abominable
prize
of possessing you.
I want to mine, sift, search,
gain entry to the
wildest
madness in you.
I want to delve, prise, excise
and risk knowing all of
you.
I want to tame the landscape
that is you.
Wild One
Undress your hair.
It should snake,
uncoil.
Braid it not, nor garland it
with blooms.
Let all its wildness, colour
bay the winds, tame the moon.
Lavish fiercely its gleam,
its perfumes.
Toss it, fling it, fly it.
Loose it like a witch.
Wind it round your fingers,
untress it, shake it.
Drape it upon my feet.
Cascade it, parade it.
Make it tempt me,
break me.
Let it crush my reason,
taunt me,
throw me,
bring me to defeat.
Be not coy, nor tame now.
Its shimmering tendrils seek to rout,
inflame and tease.
Such lustrous locks were made
to capture victims
with ungodly chains,
and predatory ease.
Undress your hair, for me.
Let it unfurl stealthily
or rapaciously.
For such desirable damnation,
I do renounce my priestly robes
my pious mask,
my sins untold.
In this awed temple, I can truly adore
and gladly kneel to serve Love's law.
I am risen, but I am lost.
I have sinned,
but embrace the sweet cost.
For your tempting treasures
I have willingly disowned all,
And submitting to mortal sacrilege,
I solemnly pledge
My devoted downfall.
We are lovers
We are lovers
in all passion, enraptured.
We are lovers
in deepest desires, engulfed.
We are lovers
In warmest ecstasies devoured.
We are lovers
To dangerous moments, seduced.
We are lovers
Falling in spirals of scarlet bliss.
We are lovers
Storming the heavens in a demented kiss.
* *
*
And your full lips redden at
the touch of my caressing
hand.
And your mouth fills with longing
at the closeness
of mine.
And your heartbeat
quickens, at the sounds
you love so.
And our eyes never leave
the places they so deeply know.
We are lovers...